The Guardian of Atlantis
by HuuskerDu
Summary: The Guardian was left behind to protect the city until her people returned. After waiting for millennia she finally despaired, only to be re-awakened unexpectedly by strange humans from Earth who had shockingly interbred with her own race. Upset and confused, she takes control of the city from the humans as she plans her revenge against the Wraith. AU starting at ep 4.
1. Chapter 1: Forsaken

****Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: Atlantis. This is a work of fan fiction.****

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Forsaken**

She had waited patiently for their return.

They were not coming back.

After waiting for nearly 4000 years she finally admitted to herself that they never would.

The crystals that powered the city's shield could keep out the ocean for at least a half dozen more millennia, but she knew that sooner or later they would fail as entropy slowly drained their lives away, as it eventually does to all things and to all life.

It was simple thermodynamics. Everything eventually runs down. Everything eventually dies.

As entropy gradually claimed the crystals one by one she knew that the shield would some day collapse, and when it failed it would implode the city as megatons of seawater rushed in, crushing everything in an instant, and then merciful death would come.

She walked the halls of her beloved city one last time. It was more out of sheer habit than anything else.

During her final tour of the city's great spires and piers she climbed up and walked out onto the roof of the North Tower to gaze out upon the surrounding ocean. She saw shimmering shafts of light that illuminated a school of _erita piciasis_ as they swam past. The brightly colored fish seemed almost close enough to touch, swimming out beyond the arching curve of the shield.

From her vantage point she scanned the sea for her companion, the _magna balaena_. She knew that it would not be the same great cetacean that she had befriended all those millennia ago, but it would still recognize her from its genetic memory. She had hoped to share a last goodbye with the huge creature but it was not in sight. She sighed, then she went back downstairs where she continued to pace the darkened halls like a living ghost.

Eventually she entered the central spire and climbed up to the gate room. There she lovingly touched the control consoles wrapped in their protective sheets of plastic, then she peered up at the gate. She remained in silent contemplation of it for several minutes, then she finally left.

She re-entered her private sanctuary located in a remote and well-protected section of the city. There she opened the stasis chamber where she had spent most of her 4000 years. She climbed inside as the translucent door closed behind her. She stood on the pad, glancing down at the small blue crystal next to her right hand. All she needed to do was tap it three times and she would enter a dreamless sleep from which she knew she would never wake up.

She could not ascend. Indeed, it was a basic fact of her existence. And so she made the only choice that was left available to her: She chose to die.

She had previously adjusted the controls to prevent the city from waking her when the power levels dropped too low. It was because there was no point.

As her hand hovered over the command crystal she paused for a moment, thinking back over her sad and mostly solitary life, a life that had begun near the end of the Lantean-Wraith war. Her earliest memories were as a young child eager to please her proud father, who had explained to her that she was a very special little girl, the product of a very important experiment. She remembered how she was placed in the Time Acceleration Chamber where she was brought up to adulthood in less than 12 months, then followed the surgeries and medical tests, all culminating in the final grand experiment as the plethora of medical scanners and recording devices smothered her young body while a dozen anxious scientists watched in breathless anticipation of the very first act of Ascension ever recorded under rigorous scientific conditions, to learn how Ascension actually worked, for the purpose of understanding the mysterious phenomenon so that they could learn to induce it artificially and all flee from the Wraith together.

But the experiment was a failure. She remembered sobbing in her father's arms as he gently consoled her afterward, explaining that she had performed her role wonderfully and that she was not to blame. He had explained that the fault was his own, due mainly to an error that he had made in the design of her genetic blueprint during her initial inception as a zygote. He explained that because of his blunder that she would remain locked in a perpetual pre-ascendant state for the rest of her life.

Because of this the Council had ordered her termination. Her powers were too dangerous, they explained, and she was too emotionally immature to handle them responsibly. Her father had objected and he threatened to quit working for them. As one of their best research scientists the Council still needed him, and so eventually a compromise was reached that would spare her life.

And so, embarrassed at their collective failure yet again, the Ancients fled the city through the gate. The girl was left behind, to guard the city until they returned.

Over the millennia she became like a living ghost, the guardian of a dead city that was built by a dead race.

4000 years was long enough.

She closed her eyes, tapped the blue crystal three times, and she knew no more.

* * *

"McKay, this is a very bad idea."

"C'mon, Radek, the power readings are unmistakable. Something is in there."

"Yes, something bad. We shouldn't be doing this."

"What are you afraid of, ghosts? Look, there is nothing left in there but a pile of 10,000 year old Ancient techno-junk. And possibly a spare ZPM or three. We have to check it out."

"But the sign outside clearly said 'Forbidden'"

"Which is precisely why we need to go in there."

"The sign had an X in a circle. That means death, McKay, death!"

McKay finally stood up from his work on the open access panel. He sighed and turned to face his subordinate. "Radek, there's been no power in this whole section for ages, and with all the silt and seaweed, ugh.." He shook a damp glop of green off of his boot. "Yuck. Like I said, this outer section has obviously been flooded for years. It's all totally dead."

"There could be traps!"

"What kind of traps, hmm? We both know that all Ancient technology is energy based, right? No energy, no power. No power, no traps. It's safe now. The booby traps don't work anymore."

"Yes, Rodney, 'booby' traps, the deadly kind of boobies. Those metal plates on the floor of the entrance vestibule to this tower would have killed us!"

"Well, yeah, they could have but they didn't. No power, Radek, no power."

"And those beam turrets..."

"Radek, look at me." Rodney pointed at his face and spoke slowly "N.O. P.O.W.E.R."

"Rodney, I can feel it. There is something in that room. Something that we should not disturb."

"Like what? Ancient ghosts? I'm surprised at you, Radek. That's idiotic even by your standards."

Zelenka ignored the taunt as he checked his hand-held energy scanner. He moved the scanner in front of large imposing double-doors. "Rodney, there is a power reading behind these doors."

McKay glanced over Zelenka's shoulder. "The scanner reads 55 watts. That's less than one light bulb. And the energy signature is consistent with a ZPM in the idle state. That clinches it. We gotta go in there and check it out."

"But the sign warns..."

"Will you just forget the sign already? Yes, yes, this place was well protected once, 10,000 years ago. Not anymore. Just residual power now. Doesn't even keep the lights on. After 10,000 years the batteries for whatever trap or guard bot or protective gizmo that might be behind that door have gone flat. It's kaput now. Inert. Dead. DEAD. All that might be left alive in there now are Ancient ghosts, and those exist only in your fevered Czech brain. Now try to be useful for once and help me take off this access panel."

In the darkened hallway John Sheppard leaned against a wall behind the pair of squabbling scientists. He was wearing a standard black tactical outfit with a P90 strapped to the front.

He yawned. "Can you two Hardy Boys please hurry this up? It's already almost two and I want to get to the mess hall before they close until dinner."

McKay turned around from his work on the access panel. "Don't worry, I'll have this door popped open in a jiffy."

"Good." Sheppard was there only because Elizabeth insisted. Privately he agreed with McKay that Radek's worries were overblown, but he knew better than to say so out loud and give McKay the satisfaction. He yawned again and closed his eyes for a quick catnap.

McKay stood up and inspected the double doors again. "The left panel is bypassed. Radek, help me open the other one. Now, point your light in there and hold it steady. Let me take a look in here. Hmm. Ooh, this one has a combo lock! Heh, finally something interesting... Hmm.. Let's see.."

While holding the light Radek continued to plead with his boss in vain. "Rodney we have found so many dangerous devices and labs in this city, and none of them had warning labels, none! This is the first one with an actual warning sign. Think what that means!"

McKay ignored his plea as he continued to work on the second door lock. "Hand me that battery pack. Let's see, bypass the primary circuit.."

After a minute there was a hiss of air as the double-doors slid open. "Ah, see? Easy. Now let's go find us some ZPMs." McKay stood and lifted the portable lantern from the damp floor, then he walked into the darkness. Zelenka flapped his arms in exasperation and followed him in.

Back out in the hall Sheppard drawled, "You boys call me if you need anything, m'kay?"

"Sure, whatever." McKay eagerly stepped inside and panned the lantern around the room, which was larger than expected. "Hmm. No signs of water damage..."

As he swept the beam back and forth the lamp caught a flash of something white. What was it? He rotated the beam back. It flashed again.

Again something white.

No, someone white.

It was a hooded figure. The figure was wearing all white with an indistinct shape, as if it was wearing a cloak or a sheet. Indeed it looked just like..

Radek said it aloud. "A ghost."

Outside Sheppard's ears perked up. He was instantly alert. He snapped up his P90 and flipped off the safety, turning on the gun's mounted headlamp as he went inside after them.

Suddenly a blinding flash of light dazzled their eyes as the entire room flared up with a bright white light.

The ghostly figure spoke.

"Who are you?"

The voice carried a tone of authority.

McKay held his hands over his eyes as he tried to peer into the blinding white light. Eventually he saw the indistinct outline of a person standing in front of them wearing a white hood.

The authoritative voice spoke again.

"Why are you here?" The voice was female.

As his eyes adapted to the brilliant light he lowered his hands from his face and boggled. Under the hood he saw the face of a young woman with piercing blue eyes and high cheekbones. She had an aquiline nose that gave her a hawk-like visage.

Her piercing eyes were now blazing directly at the trio, showing a combination of surprise and rising anger.

"Why was I awakened?"

Sheppard instinctively took a step in front of McKay and Radek to shield them, his weapon ready.

The figure shifted her gaze to the man holding the weapon. The P90 instantly jumped out of Sheppard's hands, flying high into the air until it clattered on the floor far out of reach.

To his credit Sheppard recovered quickly. Leaving his now-empty hands open while slowly raising them into the air in what he hoped would be recognized as a gesture of surrender he said, "Hi there."

The voice now spoke in a low growl. "You have entered the Forbidden Archives. Take one more step in to this room and your life is forfeit."

Sheppard did an appraisal of the speaker: The figure was crouching slightly, legs and arms apart, hands open, ready to fight. It was a martial arts pose that reminded him of Teyla during one of her many sparring matches where she had kicked his butt. This woman looked like she could easily do the same. Her facial expression was hard and grim, a look that Sheppard recognized. Although she held no visible weapon, he knew that she was ready to kill.

Their lives were now in great danger.

She quickly pulled the white hood tighter over her head as she remained in her battle stance. Sheppard suspected that the hood provided some sort of physical protection. Draped around her body was a long white cape made of the same material, leaving only her arms and calves exposed. He saw that her arms were covered in a thinner version of the same material, with white gloves on her hands that were joined to the garment with no visible seams at the wrists.

Through a small gap in her cape he spotted a shapely and athletic body wearing a tight form-fitting white leotard consisting of the same thinner material, with the top of the garment rising up to protect a long graceful neck and the bottom reaching down to her ankles where it joined seamlessly to a pair of white boots. Circling her brow was a silvery metal ring that had intricate lattice work that made her look like a Tolkien princess.

Sheppard kept both arms up in the air as he gave the dangerous-looking woman his most charming and disarming smile. "We are so glad to meet you. As you can see, we are peaceful explorers. My name is John, and.." He took a chance and lowered one of his arms to gesture at the two stunned scientists. ".. over here are my good friends Rodney and Radek. They are the scientists who are exploring your fair city."

The woman began to assess her intruders, tilting her head slightly. She could see that they posed no possible physical threat to her person. Satisfied that there was no immediate danger, she straightened her posture and lowered her arms, allowing her cape to fall back to its normal non-combat position. She pulled down her hood, revealing luxurious golden hair that she shook free.

Sheppard liked what he saw. She was stunningly beautiful. His smile brightened.

Meanwhile Zelenka sucked in his breath and whispered, "She is like, like Galadriel.."

McKay nodded dumbly and whispered, "Yeah.. or her younger hotter sister."

Now that Sheppard could see her face clearly, he saw that she did indeed look younger than he had originally estimated, definitely younger than Teyla, perhaps 20 years of age.

He continued to turn on the charm. "I take it that you are our new landlord?"

She spoke simply, "I am the Guardian."

"The Guardian? Hello, very nice to meet you. Like I said we are peaceful explorers. We thought the city was uninhabited. Sorry about that, our mistake really. Kind of silly. I mean, we must look like squatters to you, moving in without your permission, eating Cheetos on your couch, leaving crumbs under the cushions, and I can see why you might be a little upset about that. Again, we really apologize..."

She ignored his rambling mode of speech. "You claim to be explorers. How did you get here? And before you answer know this: I can detect lies."

"Right. Well, we came through the Stargate. Uh, by 'Stargate' we mean that round ring thing in the central tower..."

"The portal."

"Yes, the portal. We came through that."

"That is impossible. The portal is locked to admit only my people upon their return from exile on Terra."

"Terra? Oh you mean Earth? Well, yes. That is where we came from. We came from Earth.

His answer had visibly affected her. "No, that is totally impossible..."

"Honest. We're from Earth. You said you can detect lies, right? Look at me. Am I lying right now?"

She gazed at him. "No, you are not lying." She shook her head, for his answer had clearly upset her. "I still don't believe it. My people? What happened to them?"

She walked up to Sheppard and gazed right into his eyes, her face only inches away. "Who are you really?" She sniffed the air. "Wait, you smell.. Lantean."

Sheppard gulped then nodded, "Uh, yeah. I have some Lantean genes. Say, you must have a pretty good nose to smell that."

She was stunned. "That.. that is even more impossible.."

Sheppard decided to capitalize on her uncertainty. "I guess your people came to Earth and, well, you know, they must have got friendly with the natives, if you know what I mean. It happens. Hey, that means you and I are related! I could be your grandson. Well, your great, great, great, something, great, great grandson, but yeah! So that makes us family, right?"

She was frozen in shock.

"Uh, okay, you might not have kids, my mistake. What I really meant to say was that I am your great, great, great-something nephew. And, hey, you're my great Aunt! You're my Auntie Guardian!"

She felt dizzy. "They survived..? But why no contact? Not once did they dial in to check on the city.. What.. how.. How many years has it been?"

"Hmm?"

She grabbed Sheppard's tunic. "How many years have I been asleep? Tell me!"

"Uh.. we think your people came to Earth about ten thousand years ago, give or take."

She stared, then she pushed him away. She marched over to a wall. She approached a nondescript decoration on the wall and gave it a series of three quick rhythmic taps. A hidden panel opened revealing a status monitor. She began to fiddle with it.

Radek marveled, "There are decorations just like that one all over the city. In the halls, rooms, everywhere..."

McKay's jaw had dropped open. "Those decorations open hidden status panels? Nobody told me that. How come nobody told me that?"

She ignored the two gawking scientists as she brought up the chronometer on the status panel. It confirmed that she had been asleep for 6,000 years.

Her mind reeled. "The power crystals have been running all this time? No.." She tapped the panel again. "How much power is left?"

McKay spoke up, "Uh yeah, the ZPMs were nearly depleted when we got here. Our explorations had drained the last one completely, sorry. Didn't know until it was too late."

She whirled around and addressed Rodney for the first time. "The ocean!"

"Oh yeah, we're on the surface now. The city rose up by itself. Safety feature I bet."

She knew that the city would only do that if it detected the return of Lanteans. "Wait.. so you really did come through the gate from Earth?"

Sheppard nodded as he lowered his hands, "Yeah, we did."

"The city must have detected your Lantean blood.. Raised the city.."

Sheppard snapped his fingers. "Exactly! See? The city accepted us as Lanteans. Raised the city for us. That just confirms it. We're family. It proves it."

The Guardian's mind spun. She was still in shock at the revelation. Interbreeding with lesser races? It was unthinkable.

The Ancients were a prideful people who looked down on the human races as an inferior species. The purity of their genetic line was fundamental to their conceit. Indeed, it was one of the basic commandments of Lantean society, rules that were set forth after the terrible blunders of their ancestors with the genetic manipulation that inadvertently created the Wraith, followed by their creation of the Replicators to stop them with consequences that were even more disastrous. Such acts had brought their race to the brink of extinction. Genetic intermixing of any kind was absolutely forbidden.

Miscegenation was a capital offense. The Law also required the death of the offending human participant as well as the extermination of any spawn that emanated from such a detestable act.

She knew that humans of that era on Earth were not even at the lowest level of civilization. They were level 0, hunter-gatherers.

Her people had mated with _cavemen_. She felt sick.

"I, need to.. to sit down. I can't believe this.."

Sheppard decided that she needed to know. "I'm sorry. Your people are gone now. They died out long ago."

"I know that. They never came back." She was still shaking her head. "But I thought maybe at least perhaps some of our culture, our history, something, might have survived on Earth.." Her body slumped against the wall. She was crashing.

Sheppard took a chance and gently held her arm, propping her up. She did not resist. She was still in shock.

"Guardian, look at me." Her blue eyes turned to look into his gray-green ones. "Your culture isn't lost. We are here in your city, and right now we are in the middle of a big research project to translate your database. We saved it, at least the public parts that we can access. Your history, customs, everything. It is being preserved for posterity."

"The public database..?"

"Yes! You know, you could really help us with translating it. There are a lot of words and concepts we don't still understand. I think that if you and I work together as a team.." Sheppard made a hand gesture pointing to himself then to her. ".. we can salvage it. Save your culture, your history. Sound like a plan?"

She looked at him with pleading eyes, "Then you really are explorers? You're not here just to plunder my city?"

"No, we're not thieves. We're explorers. We're here to learn, to share our knowledge with yours. To help you, and you can help us. Remember, we're a family now."

She put her hand to her face and sighed, "I know you speak the truth, but this is so much to take in.."

She thought some more, then she came to a decision. She stood up tall and straight and spoke with authority.

"Very well. I will tentatively - tentatively mind you - accept who you claim to be. I will accept you as provisional Lanteans in my role as the Guardian of Atlantis, subject to my learning more about you and your people and what happened to mine."

"That's a deal. Oh, and thank you."

She tapped her tiara. "There, it's done."

Sheppard noticed the tapping gesture. He mimicked it on his own temple. "What's with the tappy thing?"

"Oh. Here." She removed the U-shaped tiara from her brow and showed it to him. "My limiter. It helps me block out your thoughts so that I don't read your mind accidentally. I am prohibited from probing the mind of a fellow Lantean without their explicit consent except in very specific legal situations. I am also not permitted to probe the mind of mere humans - she glanced over at McKay and Zelenka - without good cause; I have more leeway there." She replaced the tiara on her head. "By tapping here I can increase or decrease the level of the mental filter. I just raised the filter up to 90%, which is the normal level when I am among Lanteans. At the 90% level I can only pick up strong or violent emotions..." She gave him a thin-lipped smile. "... such as the deadly thoughts that you had when you were preparing to shoot me."

"Hey, I wasn't gonna shoot you.."

"But you were ready to do so."

"So were you. Ready to kill us, I mean. And I don't need any special mind powers to know that."

She looked away. "True. I was ready to kill you." She turned back. "I apologize."

"Hey, don't sweat it. It's just a misunderstanding among friends. We're family now, right?"

"As I said, I will accept your claim for now. You are the leader of this expedition?"

"Uh, no, that would be Doctor Elizabeth Weir."

"Doctor? Your leader is a civilian?"

"Yeah. This is not military expedition, it's a scientific one. Like I said, we're explorers. I'm simply in charge of security." Then he added, "Say, why don't you and I go visit Elizabeth right now? I think she would be delighted to meet you."

The Guardian sighed, "Yes, I suppose we should go see your leader." She sounded tired.

She then turned away and looked at the monitor again. "10,000 years..."

"Well hey, if it's any consolation, Earth has really changed since then. We've split the atom, gone into outer space.."

"You are a level 4 civilization? Mastered interplanetary travel? That seems surprising to me given your primitive gas-powered projectile weapons."

"Hey, we've been to the Moon."

"And to other planets in your system?"

"Uh, not yet, except in unmanned craft."

"Then you are at best a very low level 4. Borderline primitive."

That raised Sheppard's hackles a bit. He felt obliged to defend his homeworld. "Now wait just a minute, we humans have progressed quite a bit lately. We've mastered the gate system, traveled all over the galaxy.."

"Using the gates of my people, not your own means."

"Uh, yes. But we also now have interplanetary travel..."

"Using our gate ships no doubt."

"Uh yeah, but also other ships that, uh, .."

"That you got from other races. Not your own."

Sheppard was getting flustered. "Well, yeah, we borrow and learn." He looked at Rodney. "C'mon McKay, help me out here."

Rodney spoke up. "Uh, yes, well, we are creating our own ships now, the F-302 based on Goa'uld design, which means.. which means nothing to you of course. Anyway, there's also the X-303 prototype, and the BC-304 but it's still under construction.."

She ignored his rambling. "Fine. So, how many worlds have you populated using our gate system? I would expect that you must have a rapidly expanding interstellar empire by now."

"Uh, no. Just Earth."

"Really? You still live just on your original home planet even with gate travel? No colonies?"

"Well, no.."

"You live on just one world? How can you be so foolish? A single asteroid strike..."

Sheppard was conciliatory. "Okay, I admit maybe we should take your advice on that and spread out a bit. Probably a good idea. Earth is getting kinda crowded."

"It is? What is your population?"

McKay spoke up. "Approximately seven billion."

She stared at him blankly. "I'm sorry, there must be a language problem. Say that again."

"Our planet's population is seven thousand million. Seven times ten to the ninth power."

During the past 30 minutes the Guardian had been hit with three shocking pieces of information. This was the fourth, and it was the most shocking revelation of all.

"You.. wait a moment. Your.. your world has _seven thousand million people_?"

"Yeah."

She walked away muttering to herself. "No, no, no. I refuse to believe it."

Sheppard chuckled to himself. Finally a fact about 'mere' humanity that blew away even a Lantean. "Earth is a really interesting world. Lot going on there. You should come visit sometime." He pointed at her. "Hey, you come visit with me, I'll take you to go see Las Vegas. You'd love it. There's some really unique architecture there that would give even this city a run for its money."

She ignored him as she continued to think. Then she realized something. She rapidly tapped her fingers on the panel again. "No power, and the gate leads to Earth..." She whirled around and yelled, "The shield!"

McKay had walked up behind them to get a better look at the display panel. "Yeah, kind of a problem." He glanced around the room. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have a few spare ZPMs in this room by any chance?"

"Zed Pee Ems?" She mimicked McKay's Canadian pronunciation.

"Power crystals. Zero Point Modules." He started to explain. "Devices, about this big." He showed with his hands. "They compress a small unit of spacetime in a containment bottle and extract zero point energy from them. The theory behind them is really quite remarkable. You see.."

Sheppard interrupted. "Rodney, you don't need to explain what a ZPM is to her. I am sure that our nice landlady here already knows all about how they work."

"Oh, right, of course." Then his eyes brightened and he eagerly approached the Guardian. "Wait, you know! Of course you know! You know how ZPMs work? How to make them, I mean?"

The Guardian was bemused. The strong sense of fear she sensed from him earlier was now gone, replaced with almost childlike earnestness. Earlier she had marveled at the speed of his thoughts. They were so fast. It reminded her of a Lantean scientist. "Of course. The basic theory of crystal power generation is taught to every Lantean child."

McKay made a silly grin, "Oh yeah. Of course it is. Wow, man, this is so cool. I got like a million questions for you..."

Sheppard put his hand on McKay's shoulder. "Rodney, chill. Our nice new landlady is still trying to get her bearings. Why don't we back off and not bowl her over just yet with the full Rodney, okay?"

Rodney put his hands in his pockets. He looked morose. "Fine."

The Guardian decided to ignore the strange man. She was back to looking at the status display. A graph popped up showing a line that rapidly dwindled to zero. Her eyes widened in alarm. "The crystals, they are all depleted! The city is on the surface?"

Sheppard looked down and put his own hands in his pockets. "Yeah, we're sitting ducks."

"No.."

"Sorry."

"You are explorers. You've been using the gate?"

"Yeah."

"You are exploring other planets in this galaxy?"

"Yep."

She shook her head. "That is not good. The city is vulnerable. You have to stop. Listen to me carefully. There are creatures in this galaxy, terrible monsters, that you must avoid at all costs. They feed on human life energy. You must stop using the gate immediately to avoid attracting their attention."

McKay nodded. "The Wraith. Too late. We've already ran into them."

She stared at him. "You have..?"

"Uh huh."

"Then please tell me that you haven't..."

Sheppard said apologetically, "Sorry, they learned about Atlantis."

Her face switched to Sheppard. "Please.. please tell me you are joking."

"Sorry again."

She blinked her eyes. "So they know?"

"Yeah."

"The Wraith know that you came from Atlantis?"

"Yeah, really sorry there."

She marched in front of Sheppard and grabbed both his shoulders. "Listen to me. This is critically important. The Wraith. Whatever you do, do NOT tell them about Earth. It is absolutely vital they not learn about the size of your population."

Sheppard, McKay, and Zelenka all looked at each other guiltily. The Guardian did not need her mind powers to read the expressions on their glum faces . "Please, tell me you did not.."

Sheppard was fidgeting even more. "Uh.."

"Are you serious? You told them?"

"Sorry again.."

"You, you did? What kind of idiots are you people? I don't believe this. You TOLD them about Earth!? This galaxy has only one gate that can reach your world, this one! Do you have any idea to what lengths the Wraith will go to try to capture my city now? They will stop at nothing, NOTHING to get to your world! They will awaken the dormant hives..."

"Yeah, they already have. Sorry."

"How many hives have they awakened?"

"Uh, all of them, we think."

"All...?"

She was aghast. "You.. you... you are beyond fools." She exploded at them. "Idiots! You grow to a population of 7000 million only to invite the Wraith to feast at the biggest human dinner table in the entire universe? How could you do that your own people!?" She was ranting now. "You have to be the biggest idiots of all time! How can you be that foolish? My people were fools too, yes, I admit it, and they destroyed themselves in their prideful folly, but you.. you.. are even worse! Nobody can be that stupid! How do you people even remember to breathe?"

As she continued her epic rant Zelenka whispered to Sheppard, "She's like a female version of McKay."

Sheppard stepped in front of her and stopped her pacing diatribe. "Look, my commander was captured and interrogated by a Wraith Queen. We didn't know. It was an honest mistake." He looked down. "She started to feed on him."

"You.. you saw it happen? You saw her feeding on your commander?"

"Yeah. I ended up killing him before she could finish."

Her voice softened. "John, you showed him mercy. You did the right thing."

For the first time there was silence in the room.

After a minute she finally spoke again.

"John, we have a problem."

Sheppard nodded. "Yeah, we do."

She looked at him levelly. "You know what must be done."

"Uh, I do?"

"Thanks to your blunder the Wraith could arrive here at any moment."

"Yeah, look, we didn't know, and we're very sorry about that. It's our planet too, our home. We want to fix this problem just as much as you do. So let's work together on this, okay? As a team?"

She had turned away from him again. "Well, you are fortunate to have awakened me."

Her voice sounded bitter as she turned to face him again. "It appears that I will now pay the price for your sins."

Sheppard recognized the look again: hard, grim, determined.

"Excuse me?"

"It is decided. As the Guardian of Atlantis I am now officially taking control of the city. You and your people are to evacuate immediately. I will remain behind and activate the self destruct as soon as you depart."

"Now wait a sec.."

"I said it is decided. The risk to Earth is far too great." She sounded even more bitter now. "Congratulations, John. After 10,000 years of peaceful slumber your foolish actions have condemned my city to its final doom."

"Now hey.."

"You said it yourself. We are 'family' now. Fine, I accept that. Defending and guarding you and your people is now my prime function. Therefore, for your own protection, and for the protection of the seven _billion_ inhabitants of Earth, a population which is greater than the human population of this entire galaxy at least _ten times over_ , I am ordering you and your people to evacuate my city immediately." The three humans stared at her in stunned disbelief.

Secretly she was exhausted. The power reserves in her biopacks were almost entirely depleted from her 6,000 years spent in stasis.

She was putting on an act of imperious leadership mainly for their benefit. It didn't help that she knew that she was a fraud, just like her ancient brethren. Even more so actually. She also knew that much of what was in the 'public' database was actually pure propaganda.

Nevertheless, she was determined to make a proper show of Lantean superiority in front of the human visitors from Earth. She marched magisterially to the double doors like an aristocrat.

She did so despite knowing how fake she really was, how all those thousands of years ago when her people had prepared to leave her behind that she had illegally sensed their mocking thoughts, and from others their pity. She was a fraud created in violation of the Lanteans' most solemn ethics against the artificial genetic manipulation of their own race, all in a desperate attempt to save themselves via forced ascension in order to escape from the genetic monsters that they had inadvertently created in a foolish and quixotic quest to achieve physical immortality. Those monsters had orbited their skies, laying siege upon the last free world in the galaxy. So instead, in their cowardice, they had simply fled the galaxy altogether, leaving all their mistakes behind. Including her.

She reached the doors, then paused, turned, and made a commanding gesture for the three humans to follow her.

"You will take me to your leader now."

She started walking with purpose down the damp hallway. "Your Doctor Weir and I have much to discuss.."

She forced her failing body to keep on walking.

".. and not much time."


	2. Chapter 2: Hungry

**Chapter 2: Hungry**

 _"Let's play Humans and Wraiths!"_

 _"I don't like that game. Why do I have to be the Wraith?"_

 _"Because Wraiths don't have souls, dummy. My mom said you don't have one either. That's why you have to be the Wraith."_

 _—_

 _"You saw the recording. It was a clear case of self-defense – the other children attacked her first."_

 _"The crime is not hers, it is yours. You let her out of the Time Acceleration Chamber without the Council's permission."_

 _"Only because she needed to interact with other children for her social development."_

 _"Why? She has the instructional tapes, the VR simulations, everything she needs to learn how to act in Lantean society."_

 _"Tapes and sims are no substitute for real world experience. We can't just keep her in a box her entire life."_

 _"Her powers are already developing, but fortunately there were no serious injuries to the other children. Why did you not inform the Council that she already had telekinetic abilities?"_

 _"Because then you would have just locked her in that box for good and never let her out. She needs to have some direct contact with other people."_

 _"When we started this experiment you assured me that would not be necessary."_

 _"I know, but I now suspect that there might be an additional component necessary to achieve Ascension, something beyond mere physical and mental readiness, something that we don't yet fully understand..."_

 _"Janus, we both know that's ridiculous. Stop sounding like a mystic from the Age of Myth. Ascension is a simple physical conversion from matter to energy. There is nothing mystical about it. Granted, no one has ascended from the city since the siege began, but you had assured me and the rest of the Council that there was a way besides meditation and the 'releasing of one's burdens' - whatever that means - to induce the brain to enter the pre-Ascension state and begin the process that culminates in total matter-energy conversion. Am I wrong?"_

 _"No, the theory is sound. All we need to do is observe the alpha-wave frequencies and the brainwave interference pattern during a successful Ascension. Once we have that we should have everything we need to be able to replicate and induce it rather easily."_

 _"Good."_

 _"And the girl?"_

 _"Keep her in the Time Acceleration Chamber as we agreed, four more months, 60 to 1 ratio. The Council will destroy the recording of the attack. It never happened."_

 _"Thank you."_

 _"Janus, remember, this is our last hope to escape. If it fails we send a delegation to sue for peace."_

 _"And if that fails too?"_

 _"Exodus."_

 _"Total defeat. There has to be another way."_

 _"What other options do we have?"_

 _"We've already crossed the line, violated our most cherished beliefs, discarded our most basic laws and traditions, all just to survive. If we have to, we can go even further."_

 _"How much further?"_

 _"You won't like it."_

 _"Go on."_

* * *

McKay and Zelenka trotted to catch up to the Guardian as she marched quickly down the darkened hallway.

Sheppard fell back until he was far enough away to avoid being overheard. He toggled his radio earpiece and whispered into the mic, "Elizabeth, this is Sheppard. Come in."

 _"Yes Major? How did your exploration of the North Tower go? Find anything interesting?"_

"Oh yeah. McKay found something all right. You need to see it."

 _"Ah, good. I'll be right down."_

"No, no need. We'll be bringing it to you."

 _"To me? I don't understand."_

Sheppard quickly explained the situation.

 _"John, you're kidding."_

"I wish I was. She's kinda pissed off too. You're gonna need to use all those fancy diplomatic skills of yours to talk her out of it."

There was silence on the other end. After several moments Elizabeth said quietly, _"John, if I can't talk her out of blowing up the city do you think you can stop her?"_

Sheppard barked a laugh. "Heh, no. You're gonna need to convince her. No other way."

 _"Understood. I'll try to think of something. Weir out."_

Sheppard adjusted his mic. "Lorne, this is Sheppard."

 _"Lorne here. I'm alerting the tac team. They should be ready by the time you get to the gate room."_

Sheppard hissed into the mic, "No, belay that order. I don't want her to see anyone with a weapon. Assemble the tac team but keep it out of sight."

 _"Copy. We'll assemble in the stairwells. Lorne out."_

"Carson, did you get all that?"

 _"This is Doctor Beckett. You actually found a living Atlantean? I canna believe it."_

"Believe it. She's the real deal. Or at least she claims to be. Carson, I want you to check her out. Medically, I mean. I want to know what her capabilities are."

 _"You want me to 'check her out'? How in the blazing samhill am I supposed to do that?"_

"I dunno.. convince her to go to the infirmary on some excuse or other."

 _"What kind of excuse?"_

"How should I know? You're the doctor. Just wing it. Sheppard out."

Rodney had caught up to the Guardian's fast walking pace. He said excitedly, "So, hey there. Uhm, wow, where to begin.. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

The Guardian sighed, "I doubt I could stop you."

Rodney did not miss a beat. "Okay! For starters, how do you construct a ZPM?"

She said testily, "I don't have time to answer all your questions right now. Perhaps later." She was feeling dizzy and trying hard not to show it. She also had a growing headache.

"Just one question? Please?"

"Rodney.."

"Pleeease?"

He looked so earnest and childlike. She did not have the heart to refuse him. "All right. Just one."

His eyes lit up like a puppy ready to receive a treat. _Look at him. He looks so adorable right now._

"So how do you make a ZPM?"

She smiled at him. "It is a simple process. It requires a black hole with certain unique.."

Rodney smacked his fist into his open palm. "I knew it! Only a black hole would have the necessary amount of spacetime deformation to create that much energy. But the gravitational tide would be astronomical. It would stringify anything that got too close. You wouldn't be able to fill up the bottle because the tidal forces would stretch you into a strand of spaghetti before you could even begin the process. How do you avoid that?"

He was speaking so fast. She replied, "You cannot."

"Right. So what's the trick then?"

"As I was about to say, the black hole needs certain unique features that make it possible to.."

".. to create a pocket of gravitational stability so that the bottle could be safely filled! Of course! You would need a second mass that cancels out the black hole's gravitational field so you can get close enough and not get turned into a capellini noodle. But that would require a really enormous mass to counterbalance the gravitational field, something like.."

".. like a second black hole." _How can anyone talk that quickly?_

"Oh.. oh.. of course! Nothing else would be strong enough. So simple. But wait, they'd orbit each other incredibly fast, almost lightspeed. That's too fast. You'd splatter yourself due to the centripetal forces before you could even get close."

"Correct. So you find a pair that are orbiting slowly."

"That's impossible. They'd spiral in and collide."

"But not if they were each spinning on their own axis fast enough to deform and twist the surrounding gravitational field..."

Rodney stared ahead. "Oooh..."

The Guardian's smile grew. Rodney was helping her take her mind off her rising nausea and incipient headache. She said indulgently, "Do you think you can figure out the rest now?"

"Wow, wow, wow. Lemmie think. Uh, okay, uh, two black holes each with fast axial rotation. It would twist the spacetime around each black hole like two big adjacent whirlpools. But wait, if they are spinning side-by-side the combined affect would be additive, not subtractive. It would make the combined gravitational vortex even stronger. It's counterproductive."

She said patiently, "Correct again. But not if.." She made a leading motion with her hand, coaxing him to work it out for himself.

"But not if.. not if they were rotating in.. in OPPOSITE directions. Yes!"

"Very good, Rodney. You solved it."

"Of course! Counter-rotation could create a small pocket of gravitational stability were you could approach the black hole and not go all Chef Boyardee. That's ingenious! It's so simple!"

"My, you worked that out quickly. You are a clever man, Rodney."

McKay thrust out his chin proudly. "Of course I am. I'm a genius."

"Yes, you remind me of a Lantean scientist."

McKay blushed a bit. "Thank you for the compliment."

She shook her head. "That was not a compliment."

"Uh, it wasn't?"

"No. What I meant was that you have their pride, their arrogance. I see in you the same bad qualities that killed my race."

McKay's shoulders slumped. "Oh."

She touched his left shoulder. "I apologize, Rodney. I did not mean to give offense." She smiled again. "Truely, it was impressive how quickly you figured that out."

He straightened up. "Well, it comes naturally to me."

McKay then asked her, "So, uhm, do you have a name? Besides 'the Guardian' I mean?"

"No."

"Do you mind if I call you G then? A shorthand?"

"You can call me anything you like."

"Okay, great." Then he added, "So, uhm, where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"The ZPM manufacturing facility."

She looked down. "During the war the Wraith captured one of our battleships. They salvaged a ZPM from it. Realizing its power they tried to capture the facility that made them, and..."

".. and your people triggered the self-destruct and blew up the facility. No, wait, that's not enough. Or rather they.."

"Yes, Rodney, they destroyed the whole thing. They destabilized the delicate gravitational balance between the two black holes with an asteroid made of neutronium, causing the two holes to collide."

Rodney stopped in his tracks. "Whoa. That's a helluva bang."

The Guardian turned to face him. "Indeed. The light from it could be seen across half the galaxy, even in the daylight."

"I bet. But wait, couldn't the Wraith just find another.. Oh. Counter-rotation. That's rare, isn't it? That had to be a chance capture of a star from another system, right? Not just a close binary pair. Wow, the odds of that have to be at least a billion to one..."

"Closer to a quadrillion to one. As far as we know, there are no another closely orbiting counter-rotating black hole pairs anywhere in the universe. It was unique."

"Okay, so why not just find a captured binary pair containing regular stars, and then dump enough matter into both of them to turn them into black holes?"

"That is not as easy as you think, Rodney. To import such an inconceivably large amount of mass into a solar system is beyond our level of hyperspace technology. We can't even create a ship fast enough to travel to another galaxy. Second, even if we could..."

He interrupted her again, "Okay, then find a trinary system with one black hole and two stars, and collide the two stars."

She sighed, "Pushing stars around is not that easy either. It would still not work because the collision would cause a nova or supernova that would hopelessly destabilize the delicate balance of the system. Also, as I was about to say, it still does not solve the basic problem of.."

"What if you opened a gate inside of one of the counter-rotating stars?"

"Rodney, stop! Just let me finish. What I'm trying to tell you is that even starting with two regular stars it would only reduce the odds of finding one such counter-rotating pair in any given galaxy from 1,000,000-to-1 against down to 10,000-to-1 against. We have only visited three galaxies*. I am sorry, but we will never find another."

"Crap. No more ZPMs then?"

She shook her head. "No more ZPMs. However many of them remain now is all that there is and all that will ever be. There will never be any more. I am sorry."

Rodney looked glum again. "I'm just trying to help."

"I know," She tried to cheer him up, "Rodney, you were doing wonderfully to figure all this out so quickly. This is such an interesting conversation. I really enjoy talking with you."

"Yeah, me too."

"Yes, it is a pity that we will not have any more interesting discussions like this."

"We won't?"

"No, because you will be leaving my city very soon.."

 _Because I have but one last duty to perform.._

She sighed quietly.

 _.. before I die._

* * *

Elizabeth Weir was sitting at her office desk. She was in the middle of a private discussion with Carson Beckett when the Guardian strode in to her office. The Guardian did not bother to knock. Sheppard and the two scientists followed in from behind.

Weir quickly stood up intending to greet the Guardian, but the woman in white spoke first.

"You are the leader of your people here?"

Weir said politely, "Hello, my name is Elizabeth Weir. I am in charge of the Atlantis Expedition. I must say, it is an honor to meet you."

The Guardian replied stiffly, "I know that I should say something like, 'The honor is mine' or some other pleasantry. Please forgive me if I do not. I have no training in exchanging false flatteries. I apologize in advance if I offend you with my direct manner of speech. It is not intentional."

Weir took her strange response in stride. "Of course not, and no offense taken." Weir walked around the desk and approached the Guardian. "This is your office then? Would you like to sit down?" She gestured back at her office chair.

"No thank you. This office is for the Gate Keeper and for private meetings with important visitors. I never used it."

"I see. Well then, before we get started, would you like something to eat?"

The Guardian paused, then she said quietly "To.. eat?"

It was a calculated move on Weir's part. Weir spotted the Guardian's reaction. Good.

As Carson expected, the Guardian was obviously famished. A minute earlier Carson had explained his theory to Weir, how the Ancient's public database had called a stasis machine a 'Time Retardation Chamber', a device that slowed down the passage of time but did not stop it. Carson had postulated to Weir that after spending thousands of years in stasis that their new guest would likely be intensely hungry.

However, upon seeing the Guardian, Weir had privately questioned the validity of Carson's theory. It was because the woman looked so young. There was no sign of aging. Was it possible that the Guardian's stasis chamber was designed differently?

But no, the Guardian's reaction to Weir's offer was unmistakable. Weir could see that she was practically starving.

What Weir did not know was that the Guardian's hidden internal biopacks were depleted, and her body had switched to burning its own tissues and limited fat reserves for energy. Her fast metabolism was now a liability that did not give her much time.

With supreme effort the Guardian tried to casually wave off Weir's offer as being unimportant. "Perhaps later. Right now we have more important business to discuss."

Time was now on Weir's side. She slowly walked back to her desk and sat down, taking her time as she did so. She glanced at her nails idly, then she said amiably, "Yes, I understand that you were given the unfortunate news about our contact with the Wraith."

"Yes, it was indeed most unfortunate. In your folly you have awakened the Wraith. Awakened them everywhere. Unified them."

"I know. It was a serious blunder. We are sorry. We didn't know."

"Thanks to your ignorance they now have but a single goal: To reach Earth. We both know that must never be permitted to happen."

"Yes, and I agree."

"You agree? You agree that the gate and the city must be destroyed?"

"Yes, I do."

"Ah, very good. I am glad that we are of one mind on this. Let us proceed then? How much time do you need to complete your evacuation?"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"We're not leaving. Not yet. Not until we have to."

"Doctor Weir, the Wraith could be here at any moment."

Weir looked at McKay. "Rodney, what do the long range sensors report?"

The Guardian was surprised. "You have the sensors working again?"

Rodney stepped forward. "Uh, yeah, Zelenka and I managed to fix them. According to the sensors there are no hive ships operating within a 400 light year radius of us right now. They seem to be moving randomly from system to system, probably culling."

Weir then asked, "And Rodney, are there any hive ships approaching the city right now?"

"No, not yet."

Weir addressed the Guardian. "Tell me, how fast do hive ships travel?"

"Their hyperdrive design is very inferior. Their ships must drop out of hyperspace at no more than seven light-year intervals for organic hull regeneration, which takes several hours at each stop. At their normal speed it will take them at least two to three weeks to get here, assuming they pause to feed along the way."

Weir picked up her radio. "Grodin, this is Weir. Please respond." She pushed a button that turned on the PA so the rest could listen in.

 _"Grodin here."_

"Grodin, tell me the current status of the self-destruct mechanism. Is it operational?"

 _"Yes, doctor. It can be armed and fired at any time."_

"Thank you, Weir out."

Weir stood up and leaned forward, placing her palms on her desk. "As you can see, we already anticipated you. We have a self-destruct system already in place, fully operational, ready to fire at a moment's notice."

Rodney chuckled, "And with five naquadah generators filled with 300 kilograms of naquadah each, that's a big boom."

The Guardian thought a moment. She walked over to a wall decoration and opened up a hidden status panel to bring up a schematic of the city. "Show me their locations."

Rodney walked up and pointed. "Here, here, here, here, and here."

The Guardian shook her head. "It would break up the piers and sink the city, but a determined Wraith recovery operation could still salvage the gate from the ocean floor. Not enough."

Rodney was incredulous. "The explosion of five naquadah generators is not enough? Okay, how does your self-destruct system work then?"

"It ignites the naquadah that makes up the structure of the entire city itself, its piers and towers, including the naquadah in the gate, which will also explode."

Rodney whistled, "Wow, now _that_ is a big boom. And the generators won't set it all off on their own, just like you can't explode C4 because it just fizzles without a proper detonation cap. Your people must have installed carefully threaded igniters throughout all the main structural members of the city, am I right?"

"Correct again, Rodney."

"So how do you fire it?"

She tapped her head.

"Wow. Uhm, can you give us a way so we can fire it too, you know, if case you get incapacitated or something?"

"I suppose I could give you the instructions on how to ignite it, but I will not give you the instructions on how to disable the mechanism."

"That's cool with me." Rodney turned to the others, "Hey, we're all cool with this, yes?"

Weir spoke up. "All right then. Guardian, are we in agreement?"

The Guardian remained silent.

Weir said, "Guardian, listen to me. We agree with you that the Wraith must be stopped from reaching Earth. And at any cost. But we will _wait_ until the Wraith actually get here. Until that time we intend to stay in the city, and I promise you that we will find a ZPM, and we will raise the city shield once again, and defend your city alongside you. Meanwhile we will do the research that we came here to do, to learn about your people, your technology, your history, your culture, in order to save it and to preserve it for future posterity. In return we promise to be good tenants and help you with your mission to protect the city. What do you say?"

The Guardian appeared to still be thinking. Weir saw that her hand was placed on the back of one of the visitor chairs.

During Weir's conversation Carson had quietly shifted his position to stand next to Sheppard, just outside the office entrance. Sheppard had motioned him over to his side earlier.

He whispered to Carson, "See that? Her hand?"

"Aye, I see it. She can barely stand up."

Sheppard whispered, "If she passes out, do you think you can keep her sedated so we can put her back into the stasis chamber before she wakes up?"

Carson looked at him incredulously. He whispered back, "Are you serious?"

The Guardian whirled around, eyes flashing. "I heard that, John!"

The jig was up. Sheppard was chagrined. "Wow, you got good ears."

Weir spoke up. "John, what's going on back there?"

The Guardian whirled back and faced Weir accusingly. "Your security man was plotting with your medical doctor to incapacitate me, then force me back inside the stasis chamber!"

Weir looked upset. "John, really? Is this true?"

Sheppard raised his hands in mock surrender. "Look, I was just exploring some options with Doctor Beckett. Contingencies only. Nothing more. In case things went south. It's my job. I wasn't gonna actually do it."

The Guardian removed her tiara, approached, and stared into his eyes.

Without moving her gaze from Sheppard she spoke to Weir, who was still standing behind her. "Doctor Weir, please give me permission to scan his mind. This is now a matter of city security. I have the right to request it."

Weir realized she needed to regain the Guardian's trust. "If John agrees, yes."

{ John, I trusted you. }

"Hey, it's not what you think."

{ Do you give me permission to scan your mind then? Do not speak your answer out loud. Just think your response. }

{ You busted me fair and square. Go ahead, dig in. }

{ This will only take a moment. Do not resist or you will injure yourself. }

{ Let's just get this over with. }

Guardian continued to stare at him. John soon closed his eyes.

Several seconds passed.

She saw something that surprised her.

{ Oh. }

The Guardian pulled back and marveled. The expression on her face then became unreadable. She replaced the tiara on her head.

Weir asked, "Well, what is the verdict?"

"Uh, like he said, he was just doing his job. As far as I'm concerned the matter is closed. Let's move on."

"So, do we have an agreement then?"

The Guardian took in a deep breath. "Yes. Your people can stay. For now I will refrain from destroying the city. But remember this: You are guests in *my* city, and I will not take orders from you. However, I will give you all due consideration to any request you might make of me."

Weir responded, "That sounds fair. And the people in my expedition? I'm still in charge of them, yes?"

"Of course. This expedition is yours; they are your people. Now, I might from time to time make a request on some of your people to help me in some endeavor, subject to your permission first, where I hope you will give me the same due consideration to any such request that I give to yours."

"Agreed."

"Good. We will work together then. I will help you in your research as you request it, including any translations of the public database, and I will help you with any labs you wish to explore. However, the Forbidden Archives will remain forbidden. No one is permitted to enter it. Otherwise the city is open to you."

"Thank you." Weir approached and put her out hand. "I look forward to working with you."

The Guardian looked blankly at Weir's outstretched hand, unsure of what she was supposed to do with it. Weir gently moved the Guardian's right hand into her own, grasped it, and shook it slowly.

"This is a human custom, used for agreements, greeting, and friendship."

The Guardian tentatively returned the handshake.

The Guardian then leaned forward and touched her forehead on Weir's own. Weir was caught off guard, but she did not pull away. "And this is our custom for showing friendship and for agreements. It represents the meeting of minds."

Weir recalled Teyla making a similar gesture. "I see. Again, I'm honored."

"And now I am honored as well."

Suddenly there was a gurgling sound. The Guardian tried to cover her stomach.

Rodney asked, "What was that noise?"

The Guardian looked around the room nervously. "What noise? I don't know what you are talking about."

It happened again. "That noise." Rodney pointed at her midsection.

"I didn't hear anything."

Sheppard laughed, "You are such a bad liar. You're worse than McKay."

"Hey!" "No I am not!" McKay and the Guardian had both yelled their objections simultaneously. They looked at each other in embarrassment, then turned away.

Weir smiled. "You must be hungry. Rodney, John, why don't you escort our new friend to the mess hall and find her something to eat?"

The Guardian finally gave in to her body's demands. "Yes.. please.. so hungry.." She collapsed into John's arms.

John deftly caught her. He looked over to Carson, "Well, here's your excuse for an exam."

"Aye. Let's get her to the infirmary."

* * *

Carson was looking up at the medical scanner's readout display. Weir, Sheppard, and McKay were standing next to him. The Guardian was still laying unconscious beside them on the hospital cot with an IV in her arm.

John asked, "Well, doctor, what's the verdict?"

Carson crossed his arms as he continued to look up at the scanner. "She is quite remarkable. As far as I can tell she is in perfect health. She is, however, not an Atlantean. At least not a normal one."

"She's not?"

"No. For starters I don't think she has a mother or a father. Her genetic makeup appears to come from at least twenty different genetic donors."

"Are you saying she's a genetic construct? She's artificial?"

"Aye, most definitely."

Weir spoke up. "Wait, I thought that it was strictly forbidden under Lantean law to do that. One of the basic commandments in the late Lantean era was 'Thou Shalt Not Tamper With a Person's Genetics', or something like that."

"Maybe so, but this lass has been tampered with plenty. She's had a lot of surgeries too."

"Like what?"

"Look at this." Carson adjusted the scanner. "See that? Those round hockey-puck shaped discs in the back of her thorax, above the kidneys?"

John peered at the screen. "Yeah. What the heck are those things?"

"As near as I can tell they are biological energy storage packs. They are directly connected to her blood supply and to her nervous system."

"Huh."

"Other parts of her body have been altered as well. See this tube that runs up her arm into her palm where it spreads out to these metallic flanages just under the skin?" He pointed.

"Hmm. That looks like one of those Goa'uld hand devices used by the System Lords. Nasty weapons."

"More likely the Goa'uld had copied those devices from this more organic design. There's some other devices elsewhere too, like this one embedded in her left forearm. I dunna have any idea what they could be though."

"Seems like our girl here is just full of surprises."

Carson nodded. "Her brain is also quite interesting. Even asleep like this she has abnormally high brain activity in the prefrontal cortex. There are also signs of physical restructuring of some of the neural pathways in the brain stem, the medulla oblongata, and the cerebellum. Some very delicate microsurgery there."

McKay made a face. "Ugh, they messed with her brain? Any idea why they did that?"

Carson shrugged. "It could be for any number of reasons. For example, they might have added a kill switch."

"A kill switch?"

"A failsafe, a contingency, in case she gets out of control. Perhaps a word, or a phrase, or some other external stimulus that would kill or incapacitate her instantly if she heard or saw it."

Sheppard said, "Interesting."

"It might trigger something else, maybe some kind of basic autonomous behavior at an instinctive level."

Sheppard asked, "Like what for instance?"

"Like a command that makes her kill the person she is looking at."

"Wow, really?"

"It's possible. She wouldn't even realize she had done it until after it was all over."

Sheppard mused some more, "I'm starting to see why she's keeping us out of those 'Forbidden Archives'.."

Weir touched Sheppard's shoulder. "John, remember, she needs to be able to trust us."

He looked down. "Yeah, I know."

Carson spoke up again. "There is one other thing you should know about her." The other three looked at him expectantly.

He went on. "Remember when we recovered that amputated Wraith arm from Athos? How it indicated that the Wraith have amazing recovery capability and no aging process? Well, she has the same abilities. Her telomeres are capped just like theirs is, and she has the same regenerative ability."

McKay was shocked. "You mean she's part Wraith?"

"Actually I think it's the other way around."

"What do you mean?"

"Her DNA modifications are artificial. In a natural organism most DNA is wasted, junk, due to various random mutations that accumulate over generations. Only a small fraction of natural DNA is useful. The modified sections of her genes have no wasted DNA at all. However the Wraith have several random and useless mutations throughout their genome, indicating a genetic drift away from the original design, whatever it was. The bottom line is that I think she's much closer to the original design than they are."

Weir said, "Wait, are you saying the Ancients *created* the Wraith?"

"Well, it would explain their basic genetic similarity. She feeds off biological energy packs. The Wraith later mutated from the original design to feed directly off humans. I doubt the Ancients made the Wraith on purpose, however."

Weir objected, "But doctor, the Ancient database states that the Wraith evolved over 100,000 years ago, a natural evolutionary accident, a cross between humans and some bug that feeds on life energy...?"

"Well the genetic drift is actually much more recent. I'd say that somebody has their facts mixed up."

Sheppard was still thinking. "Very interesting.."

There was a groan from the hospital bed.

McKay said, "Hey, she's waking up."

The Guardian sat up and put her hand to her head. "Where am I?"

Carson moved next to her bedside. "Lass, you're in the infirmary. You had a hypoglycemic episode and fainted. Blood sugar crash. We're injecting a glucose solution into your vein right now."

She blinked her eyes. "A hypoglycemic episode?"

McKay spoke up. "Oh yeah, I get those all the time, that's why I need to have frequent meals. Sheppard makes fun of me but it's a real condition." He made a face at Sheppard "And you can *die* from it."

She sat up and removed the IV from her arm.

Carson said, "Now wait just a moment. You are in no condition to.."

She ignored him. "I'm fine." She stood up and looked at her hospital gown. "Wait, where are my clothes?"

"Lass, you need to get back in bed.."

Weir put her hand on his arm. "Carson, let her go."

"All right. Nurse, bring her kit please."

Sheppard spoke up. "Hey, I imagine you must still be pretty hungry."

The Guardian's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm starving."

McKay asked, "What do you normally eat?"

"Processed yeast. The vats are in the lowest level of the North Tower."

McKay said, "Processed yeast? Yuck."

"Oh no, Rodney, it's very nutritious. It contains all of the body's daily nutritional requirements. The only problem is that after the first thousand years the yeast vats started to acquire a metallic taste. I still don't know why. I've tried and tried but I just can't get rid of it. Rodney, maybe you could help me with that?"

Sheppard said, "You mean you have been eating nothing but processed yeast this whole time?"

"Of course. Why do you look so surprised?"

Sheppard looked at Rodney, who smiled back knowingly. Sheppard then leaned in towards the Guardian and whispered, "How would you like to try some Salisbury Steak smothered in gravy with reconstituted mashed potatoes? They taste absolutely amazing."

Sheppard was being facetious. Rodney, however, was not. "Oh it is so good. I can't get enough of it myself. I love hospital food too, and airline food. They say I'm weird that way but believe me, it's heavenly. You'll absolutely love it."

She looked at them both with ravenous eyes. "I want Salisbury Steak and reconstituted mashed potatoes, and I want it right now."

Sheppard held out his elbow. "Let's go!"

* * *

She was sitting in the mess hall wearing her white leotard and open cape while devouring a plate of food, with John and Rodney sitting across the table watching with bemused expressions on their faces. She had taken off her white gloves and was shoving globs of mashed potatoes directly into her open mouth with her bare hands.

She tried to speak through a blob of white gooey carbohydrate, "Thish ish sooo gud!"

John spoke with with barely disguised amusement, "Well, I'm glad you like it."

Rodney was rolling his eyes. "That's her fifth serving." She then grabbed a hamburger patty and was getting ready to shove it into her mouth with her bare hands when Sheppard stopped her. She looked at him questioningly.

Sheppard picked up a fork and knife. "Here, use these."

"What are those?"

"Eating utensils. Makes it much easier."

"Oh, I see. I didn't recognize them. We use a _furcacultro_."

"A furcacultro? What's that?"

"A Lantean food utensil. U-shaped, with a prong ending in a sharp edge for cutting and the second prong scallopped for drinking liquids. The scalloped end includes a serrated edge for impaling food items."

"Hmm. A spork-knife-chopstick combo. Sounds pretty efficient."

The Guardian nodded, "Oh, it is."

Carson whispered to Sheppard, "We found those things in a storage bin. We thought they were Ancient surgical tools."

Sheppard shrugged, "Well, live and learn."

The Guardian picked up the fork and stabbed the piece of hamburger with it, then forced the whole thing into her mouth.

Sheppard remarked, "You keep eating like that and you'll put on weight."

She swallowed the glob of meat then said, "Oh no, I need to eat at least 20,000 calories to replenish my reserves."

McKay whispered to Sheppard, "Gawd. Don't tell her about the blue jello. She'll eat it all."

Her ears perked up. "Blue jello? What's that? Ooh! Can I try some? Please? Please please please?"

McKay slumped down in his chair.

"Aw crap."

* * *

 **A/N:**

* The Ancients have visited three galaxies: The Alteran Galaxy (where they originated), the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Pegasus Galaxy.

* * *

 **A/N:**

If you have read some of my other fics you know that I enjoy writing 'what if' tales that explore how events would change if one single fact was altered in the original story. For example, in _SAO: Nobody Dies_ I explored what would be different in _Sword Art Online_ if nobody had actually died while playing the VR game. In _The Realization of Haruki Suzumiya_ I explored what would be different in the world of Haruhi Suzumiya if all the characters had opposite genders. In this story I posit what would be different if a single Lantean had survived the Wraith War.

This type of Atlantis fanfic has been done before ( _The Protector_ , _Point of Ascension_ ) but those stories followed the original episodes of the series without much change. This fic is different in that it will instead explore how widely those events would diverge from canon in such a situation (hint: a lot).

Please note that for story reasons some events might occur out of order compared to canon. I will also be bringing in a few characters early (Evan Lorne, Laura Cadman).

As always, thank you for reading.  
-HuuskerDu


	3. Chapter 3: The Destroyer

**Chapter 3: The Destroyer**

 _10,000 years ago._

The Guardian sat on the floor of the deserted gate room. She waited for darkened gate to light up.

She waited and waited.

Another anniversary came and went.

Her father had promised her that he would try to contact her through the gate once a year on the anniversary of the Lanteans' exile to Terra. On the first anniversary she had stood just outside the event horizon's expansion zone with barely contained excitement waiting for the chevrons to light up. The chronometer had counted down: Three, two, one, zero.

She then turned and looked at the gate expectantly.

Nothing happened.

Hours later she was sitting on the floor crosslegged, watching the gate patiently waiting for the blue lights to appear.

Still nothing happened.

So she waited.

And waited.

For three days.

She then reluctantly re-entered her stasis chamber, setting a timer so that she would be ready to greet them at the next anniversary.

The next anniversary was the same.

Had they abandoned her? No, she refused to believe it. They had given her a full complement of rare power crystals - three of them - to power the city shields, precious and irreplaceable energy sources. Surely it was proof that they were planning to return? She held on to that hope.

Another anniversary passed.

Before she entered the stasis chamber again she climbed up the stairs to inspect the gate ships in the main hangar of the central tower, twelve small interplanetary spacecraft that also had amphibious capability. The inspection of the gate ships was not necessary but she checked on them anyway. She did it to reassure herself that her people would not have abandoned and left those ships behind. It was more evidence that they had planned to return.

Another anniversary.

As the years passed she was becoming increasingly worried about the fate of her people. Eventually she dialed Terra in violation of her orders to try to reach them. The lack of any contact made no sense. Surely they would want to know if the city had survived the siege? To know if their plan to hide the city had worked?

It had. After the Council's peace delegation to the Wraith was wiped out, the remaining Atlanteans made a last desperate attempt to escape the siege. Sacrificing their last battleship as a diversion, the great city-ship rose on its mighty engines and tried to flee. The Wraith fleet turned back and gave chase but the city-ship was already on the far side of the planet, where it had activated its hyperdrive engines and jumped into hyperspace. The pursuing Wraith fleet then scattered across in the galaxy in search of them, for they knew there was literally no place left in the galaxy for them to hide.

But the city did not flee. After the fake hyperspace jump the city's survivors quickly and quietly submerged the city deep in the sea. (The Wraith did not know that the city had that capability.) They then shut down all power and fled through the gate to Terra. The Guardian was left behind with instructions to keep the city hidden until they return.

The ruse worked. The city was safely hidden. Surely her people would want to know their plan had succeeded? And yet years had passed with no contact. What had happened to them?

She dialed Terra in violation of her orders. The gate connected. "This is Atlantis Guardian calling Terra Base. Please respond."

Nothing.

"Atlantis Guardian to Terra Base. Please respond."

Nothing.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

She was tempted to step through the gate and investigate herself, but that would have meant abandoning her mission. If she passed through the gate she might not be able to return. She hesitated, then she closed the portal without entering it.

On the next anniversary she dialed Terra again and the same thing happened.

Several more years passed.

One year she dialed the gate and it failed to connect.

She panicked. She dialed Terra again and again. There was no connection.

She pounded her fists on the gate console. "No! No! Don't leave me like this!"

She tried to think, pacing back and forth. She knew that Terra was currently in the midst of an ice age. Perhaps they had left Terra for a world with a more temperate climate? Yes, that must be the reason. It would change the gate address. Of course. That had to be it.

But if that was so, why didn't her father contact her to let her know?

She suppressed in her mind another and more plausible explanation, that the gate had simply been buried or destroyed. No, she told herself, that was simply not possible. She refused to believe it.

She continued to pace back and forth. She returned to the console and dialed Terra several more times without success.

Eventually she returned to the stasis chamber. After that she stopped waking at each anniversary, knowing that the stasis chamber would automatically revive her if there was any gate activity. She set the timer to wake her in a century.

One day she was awakened unexpectedly. The city's sensors had detected a small approaching ship of Lantean design. She ran excitedly to the underwater docking bay, watching with breathless anticipation as the ship passed through the shield and entered the dock.

A handsome man emerged from the small ship, tall and brash. He said that he was the last survivor of a remote Lantean research outpost. He told her a dramatic tale of his escape from the Wraith in a derelict Lantean runabout, using his Lantean mental powers to activate it and pilot it, and how the ship had guided him to Atlantis.

She was ecstatic to meet another of her kind. He soon entranced her, and she felt as if she was living in a fairy tale. She talked with him excitedly about her father, her people, and their expected return. The possibility of his deception was evident right from the start, but she had suppressed it from her mind just like she did the fate of her people. Instead she allowed herself to fall in love.

One day she caught him trying to escape the city in his ship with two stolen power crystals. He confessed that he was an actually an impostor, a mere thief. His blood was only part Lantean, his mother having long ago been hunted down and exterminated by the Wraith like all the rest of her kind.

She said she already knew he was false. She said she didn't care. She only wanted him to stay.

While she slept that night he tried to kill her in her sleep. The instincts in her hindbrain reacted, and he was already dead before she had finished waking up. She looked at her bloody hands in shock, still not fully realizing what she had done.

She staggered up to the roof of the North Tower carrying his body. There she raged at the heavens: She cursed the Wraith. She cursed herself. She cursed the Ascended who watched and did nothing.

She was alone again with no hope and no future, surrounded on all sides by implacable deathless monsters, monsters who had committed genocide against her race and could never be defeated.

While looking up she screamed a furious oath, inchoate in her rage and fury.

She jumped into a gate ship. She dialed a random address and went through.

* * *

The long millennia passed.

Over the ages a legend slowly grew. The Wraith whispered among themselves of a ghostly being that they called The Destroyer. Some said it was the ghost of a betrayed Wraith queen seeking vengeance upon her sisters, others said it was the spirit of a murdered Lantean. According to the myth the being would appear every hundred years or so and the story was always the same: A few Wraith drone soldiers would be found dead inside a random hive ship's landing bay. Then the alarm would sound, followed by a blur and the echoes of screaming Wraith, more dead. The alarm would grow and spread throughout the hive. Chaotic reports would reach the Queen's ears of a mysterious intruder, an entity that seemingly materialized out of thin air only to disappear again. The few witnesses who survived said it was a ferocious female dressed in white.

The path of invisible death and destruction would gradually progress toward the queen's chambers. The queen would then whirl and search her own throne room, where she would finally spot the intruder and hiss a challenge. The intruder would then snarl a challenge in return. Sometimes the queen survived, sometimes she did not. The intruder would then be gone.

Many Wraith had heard of the legend. Even Queen Death herself was familiar with it. However, she knew that the legend of The Destroyer was actually true. It was because one of her own hive ships was recently attacked by the mysterious entity. She had sent her agents to debrief the attacked hive, and the report she received intrigued her. She sent out her human spies to several worlds, secret Wraith worshippers, to try to learn more.

What reached her ears amazed her. A threat and an opportunity.

She gave out instructions to her fleet. A trap was to be set.

What happened next was not known, but The Destroyer was never seen again. Many Wraith believed that Queen Death had slain The Destroyer herself, as befitting her reputation as the greatest of all Wraith queens.

More millennia passed. The galaxy was quiet again.

And so, with every world conquered, and with no more battles to fight, the Wraith continued their long silent slumber in the endless dark.

6,000 years passed by.

One day word came to the Wraith of the discovery of a vast new feeding ground, a planet with billions of delicious fresh human lives to feed upon. The new Queen Death was awakened. She marveled at the news. Atlantis had returned. She gave orders to her allied hives to begin culling human worlds to gather strength.

Again it was a threat..

She smiled to herself while thinking of the old legend.

.. and an opportunity.

* * *

 _Atlantis, present day._

The Guardian was finishing her meal in the expedition's mess hall. McKay had already left, muttering that the blue jello supply was in peril. Meanwhile, Sheppard and Carson Beckett stayed seated at the table to keep her company.

The pair were surprised to hear a rather unlady-like burp from across the table. The Guardian covered her mouth in embarrassment.

Sheppard grinned and said, "You okay over there?"

The Guardian pushed herself away from the table, holding her stomach. "I might have eaten too much."

She stood up, and the two men did the same. Carson said, "Heavens, that's an incredible number of calories for a lass to eat in one meal. You'll need time to rest and digest all that food. Would you like to return to the infirmary?"

The Guardian shook her head, "No thank you. I have a sanctuary where I can rest. I think I shall return there now."

As she was preparing to leave a pair of individuals approached, an athletic looking woman and a tall man. The woman seemed a bit apprehensive, the man particularly so. Sheppard turned and warmly greeted them. "Hey Teyla, hi Halling."

He gestured at the Guardian. "I don't know if you two heard about it yet, but this is our new landlady. I suppose I should do some introductions." He turned back to the Guardian. "Guardian, this is Teyla Emmagan and Halling of the Athosians. Teyla, Halling, this is the Guardian of Atlantis."

The Guardian said, "Hello. You are Athosians? You are from Athos?"

Halling hesitated. Teyla looked at him, then she addressed the Guardian with her head down. "Yes, _Anquietas_. We are the leaders of our people here."

"I see. So the Athosian people survived the war? I am very happy to hear that." The Guardian explained to Sheppard, "The Athosians were steadfast allies to the end, one of the few who did not forsake us." She turned back. "Greetings, Teyla Emmagan and Halling of the Athosians. You are most welcome here, and thank you."

Teyla's head stayed bowed. "The thanks is ours for your generous and gracious benevolence, _Anquietas_. Truly, I could not believe my ears when I heard the rumors about your awakening. I am ashamed to admit that I did not believe the rumors until I saw you with my own eyes. Please forgive my lack of faith." She bowed deeper.

The Guardian looked nonplussed. "That is not.."

Then they did something the Guardian did not expect. They knelt down before her, prostrate. Halling started to chant ritualistically, " _Ave Anquietas Domivaitus, Ave Anquietas Domivaitus..._ "

The Guardian was now clearly upset. "What are you doing?"

Teyla looked up. "We are praising and worshipping you, _Anquietas_."

The Guardian was angry. "Stop that! Get up!" They did. "Please do not do that in my presence. My people are *not* worthy of your worship, believe me. I even less."

Halling protested, "But you are the _Anquietas_. You are our Creators."

The Guardian made a bitter laugh. "Hardly that. Oh, I can see how you came to believe that little exaggeration. True, we spread the seed of humanity to many worlds and created the gate system, and for those acts and others my people boasted loudly and proudly of their greatness, all while hiding their failures, which were greater still. Believe me when I tell you that we Lanteans are totally unworthy of your honor and reverence."

She then sighed, "I suppose I understand your need to worship, the need to seek contact with and glorify something greater than yourself. After all, it is a unique gift given to the human species."

Teyla said haltingly, "It is? But not by you? Then who, _Domivaitus_?"

The Guardian ignored her query and instead said angrily, "Stop calling me that! Listen to me. The Ancestors that you worship are now all dead now. Dead, you understand? They killed themselves in the folly of their pride. Do *not* worship them."

The two Athosians were now looking down shamefully at the floor in fear and dread at being admonished by the _Anquietas_. Halling was trembling.

The Guardian's face softened. She gently put her hand under Teyla's chin and lifted it up. "Teyla Emmagan, look at me." The Guardian gave Teyla a gentle smile. "I am not a goddess, only a woman of flesh and blood, no different than you."

"Then how should we address you?"

"Simply as the Guardian." Then she added, "Or better yet, as friend."

The Guardian approached Teyla and lightly touched her forehead to the Athosian. Telay briefly hesitated before returning the gesture. The Guardian then did the same with Halling.

"Friend."

"Friend. And please, call me Teyla."

The Guardian replied, "Greetings, Teyla and Halling of the Athosians. May I ask how is Athos?"

Teyla looked at Halling, who said, "All was peaceful for hundreds of years, then the Wraith came suddenly. It happened a month ago. We do not know why they came. We were given sanctuary here by the humans from Earth." He looked appreciatively at Sheppard.

The Guardian turned to Sheppard. "John, you gave them sanctuary in my city?"

Sheppard was caught off guard. "Uh, yeah. Caught flack for it too." He added defensively, "Look, I'm sorry if I invited squatters in to your city without your permission, but I wasn't going to just leave them behind."

She beamed at him. "Oh, John, thank you so much. You did the right thing." Indeed, it was one of the primary missions of Atlantis, to give temporary sanctuary to displaced populations on other worlds and resettle them. "Truly, I am in your debt."

Sheppard enjoyed her effusive praise. "Well, thank you. I'll just pass that along to Elizabeth next time I get chewed out."

The Guardian made another loud burp. She covered her mouth with both of her hands.

Teyla suppressed a titter. "Yes, I can see you are indeed just like us."

"I was planning to inspect the city next.." The Guardian swayed slightly. "But perhaps first I should rest for a little bit.."

Sheppard held her arm. "I think that's a good plan. Let's get you to bed so you can take a nice little nap and sleep off all that food. Hmm?"

"I suppose that would be a good idea.." Another burp. She leaned into him to stay upright.

He grinned, "C'mon sleepyhead, let's go."

* * *

The next morning Sheppard was waiting patiently just outside the North Tower when the Guardian emerged from the entrance. She looked refreshed.

She was surprised to find him. "John, what are you doing here?"

He shrugged, "You said you'd begin your inspection tour starting at 9:00, but you didn't say where to meet up."

"You were planning to go with me? John, that isn't necessary. I know my way around my own city."

"Well, yeah, but I thought maybe I'd show you how we redecorated the place..."

She smiled. "That's very kind of you. Say, what is that?" She pointed.

"This thing? Oh, it's a picnic basket."

"A picnic basket?"

"Some good stuff in here too." He showed her the basket as she peered inside. "Bologna sandwiches, potato chips, fruit cups, cream sodas, plus I threw in a couple MREs as backup."

Her eyes widened at the veritable cornucopia of processed food items. "Oh John, you shouldn't have."

"My treat." He gallantly offered his elbow. "Well, shall we begin our tour?"

She took his arm in her own. "Yes, let's." She continued talking as they walked arm-in-arm, "Now, I made a list of the places I want to inspect. I'd like to begin with these flood damaged areas..."

* * *

Sheppard suggested that they rest for lunch and have a picnic together. He proposed that they go outside to the southwest pier because he said he liked the view. The Guardian said there was a much better vantage point on a secret ledge near the top of the central tower, accessible only from a hidden maintenance ladder. He gladly assented and followed her.

The pair were sitting on a blanket near the ledge's edge enjoying the scenery. They looked out on the spires gleaming below them as the white tops of the ocean waves lapped in the distance.

Sheppard exclaimed, "What a view."

"Yes, the ocean surface is beautiful. The sky, the sun. I only saw the view underwater. It never looked like this."

As they gazed out at the scenic vista he said idly, "I didn't know this spot even existed." He smiled at her. "You must know a lot of other secrets too."

She looked at him demurely. "Yes. I know many secrets."

"I bet you do."

They continued to watch the passing waves together.

Out of the blue he asked her, "What's your name?"

The question took her by surprise. She put down her sandwich. "My name? What do you mean?"

"Your name. 'Guardian' isn't a name, it's a title."

"That is my official appellation."

"My official title is Major but my friends call me John. What name do your friends call you?"

She looked down. "I have no friends."

"You have one now." He moved closer. "I think you are a remarkable woman."

"My father's family was conservative in their ways. They believed that our birth names, our private names, should be kept secret. Such names are to be shared only between close family members and.." She paused.

"And?"

".. and lovers."

"That's wonderful." His hazel eyes were focused on hers.

Her breathing quickened. She felt that she could lose herself in those fathomless pools of gray-green.

She finally was able to look away. She spoke quickly, "Such names are never spoken aloud, only telepathically."

He leaned in very close. "We already have that connection."

"John.. I.." Her face started to blush.

"You feel it too. I saw a glimpse. You can't deny it."

She said in a whisper, "I know. I should not have done that."

Such was the risk of a mind probe, for it permitted the target to sometimes also briefly sense the mind of the interrogator. When she had investigated his mind she tried to focus only on discerning his motives regarding her, wanting to know if he was actually planning to incapacitate her and put her back in the stasis chamber.

But what she found was something else entirely. During the probe he had tried for a moment to hide it, but he relented as she pressed further.

At first it had surprised her, and only afterwards did she realize what was happening. Yes, the attraction was there. She could not deny it. She turned to face him.

He whispered, "Look into my mind again."

"My limiter, I can't.."

He gently removed her tiara. She did not resist.

{ We both feel it. }

{ Yes. }

She felt herself giving in. She closed her eyes, her heart pounding. He moved in to give her a kiss.

Lips were about to touch..

Her eyes snapped open. { Wait }

She sat up quickly and put her tiara back on. "No, I can't. Not when the Wraith are coming."

"Hey.."

She pleaded with him, "John, this is wartime. We are both military. You know what that means. We both have a duty, a mission. Now is not the right time."

He sat up, propping his elbows on his knees. He sighed, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

"I'm so sorry. I do like you, very much so. Does this mean we can no longer be friends..?"

He quickly shook his head. "Oh no. We're pals."

"I am glad." She smiled at him for a moment, then she adjusted her tiara.

Together they gazed out at the ocean again. A veil of silence fell between them.

Time passed.

Without turning she spoke. "The city, your people. We are allies. I'll fight alongside you, die with you."

He nodded as he looked out. They were soldiers in a war.

While still looking out at the water she finally said, "You know, John, that was rather clever what you did yesterday."

He turned. "What was?"

"How you maneuvered me into digging in to that part of your mind when I was looking for something else."

He gave her a mock-innocent look. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."

She looked at him dolefully. "Now John. We are both military. We both know that if you interrogate a suspect in his lair and demand the location of a secret map or a hidden item, the suspect will often furtively glance in the direction of the hidden item without realizing it. You did that to me deliberately when I probed your mind in Doctor Weir's office. You acted like you were trying to hide your feelings from me, which of course drew my attention to them and made me dig in to them. You did that to me on purpose, am I right?"

"Hey, I take the fifth."

"I am impressed you were able to fool me like that, even if only for a short while." She gave him a knowing smile as she gently chided him. "You sneaky man, don't try to trick me like that. I'll catch you."

"Only because you cheat."

She laughed.

"But do I have to still call you 'Guardian'?"

She shrugged, "I have no other name. Only Lanteans of high rank had public names by which they called themselves."

"You need a name. Something short and informal."

"Well, Rodney called me G."

"He did?" Sheppard made a face. "That's a stupid name."

"But it is short and informal."

"It's stupid."

He thought a moment then snapped his fingers. "Genie."

"Genie?"

"Yeah. You're a magical girl who came out of a bottle - okay a stasis chamber but close enough - and you're powerful, full of tricks.. it's perfect."

She crossed her arms. "I am not magical."

He ignored her protest. "Yep, Genie it is."

"Fine." She uncrossed her arms, picked up her sandwich, and bit into it.

He picked up his own. After he swallowed a bite he asked, "So back then you had no name except for your title? That seems rather impersonal."

Between chews and talking with her mouth still full she explained, "It was customary for people of low standing to be addressed only by their title. I was called Guardian because I was the security guard for the city while it slept."

"So basically you were the night watchman."

"Yes. I had a low rank. I wasn't even a full citizen."

"You weren't? Why not?"

She realized that she had blundered into revealing an aspect of her life that she was not ready to share with him. She thought quickly, then decided to distract him. She put down her sandwich and gave him a coy smile. "You know, John, there is one thing I'd like to do with you.."

His eyes lit up. "Hmm?"

"If on some day, when the war with the Wraith is finally over, and if by some miracle we somehow both survive it, and if we are able to reach Earth again, then.." She leaned in close to him again. She had a coquettish look.

"Yeah?"

She whispered, "I would love for you to show me Las Vegas."

He sat back and pointed at her. "Now that is a date."

* * *

The next morning the Guardian was in McKay's private lab. She and McKay were having a lively discussion about the origin and structure of the physical universe.

"Rodney, that is circular reasoning."

"Oh come on.."

"It's obvious. Look, show me your Standard Model again. The gauge-symmetric coupled equation."

"Which formulation?"

"The one that describes the dynamics of a physical system, not the state."

"You mean the Lagrangian formulation?"

"That's the one."

"Okay." Using swift finger motions McKay re-shuffled the diagrams on the imaging table. It was a large touch-sensitive flat surface with a transparent sheen that displayed documents and images. It was hooked into the Atlantis Expedition's main database using a small Carter Data Adapter (CDA).

The engineering team had connected CDAs to Lantean data systems throughout the city. CDAs were small self-contained electronic translator boxes that converted the Ancients' standard I/O protocols into equivalent USB or HDMI digital signals and vice versa. It still chafed McKay that the devices were named after his rival, Samatha Carter, and not himself. It was because she had come up with a better and simpler design than the more complicated one he had originally proposed to the engineering team back on Earth.

"There. G, I give you the Standard Model of physics, Lagrangian style."

She had her elbows propped on the glass table alongside him. "Nice. Now stop for a second. I still haven't mastered your mathematical notation yet, but just get up and take a step back with me." They did. She gestured at the table. "Just look at that, it's beauty, the compactness, the elegance."

Rodney nodded, "Yeah, there's a sublime beauty to it. It's marvelous how the motions and energies of the entire physical universe can all be represented by just five coupled sets of gauge invariant symmetric terms."

"Which set of terms is which? I'm still not fully familiar with your people's mathematical symbology."

"I know, it's a pain how mathematicians use so many different symbols all the time. Okay, let's see.." He bent over the table as she leaned in closely behind him to watch. "The Lagrangian symmetries in the Standard Model are described by five basic groups of terms, starting at the top: 1) the kinetic energies and self-interactions of the gauge bosons, 2) the kinetic energies and the electroweak interactions of the fermions - quarks and leptons, 3) the masses of the W+/-, Z, gamma, and Higgs particles and their couplings, 4) the interactions between quarks and gluons, and finally 5) the fermion masses and their couplings to the Higgs boson."

"So that means this constant here, excuse me." She was leaning in past him, her arm reaching over his shoulder to point at the table. "This one, I assume it is the coupling constant for electromagnetism?"

"Yep, we call it the fine structure constant, dimensionless, the coupling constant for electromagnetism expressed in Planck units, about 1/137."

"Ah." She turned her head. "So tell me, Rodney, why is the fine structure constant that particular value? 1/137? Why not some other value?"

He shrugged. "Well, I dunno. It just is. It's a basic constant."

"And if it was slightly different?"

"Stellar fusion wouldn't work. If the value was a tiny bit smaller there would be no fusion, no stars, no suns. If it was a tiny bit larger stars would ignite too soon and burn so furiously that they would never grow in size to produce anything beyond helium so there would be no other physical elements. It would mess up everything."

"Basically the universe wouldn't work right."

"Yeah. It would be either perpetually dark or go up like a firecracker."

She leaned in over him again. "And this constant here?" She pointed.

He looked at it, then turned back over his shoulder to her. "The proton to electron mass ratio."

"And if that one was different?"

"You wouldn't get stable atoms because they'd either fly apart or collapse into neutrons, and the universe would be a goop of either all ions or all neutrons with no interesting macrostructure. Pretty boring either way."

She beamed at him. "Very good, Rodney. You just said something profound."

"Uh, I did?"

"Yes. If any of those constants were just slightly off the Universe would be, as you say, boring. And yet we know the Universe is emphatically not boring. It is full of all sorts of interesting things.."

He chuckled, "Like floating city-spaceships?"

".. like life."

He nodded, "Right, right, right. But I'm still not buying it. You're saying the universe is designed for life?"

"Rodney, isn't it obvious? Look around you. Look at your planet. Look at the physical processes that created it, and you. They are all determined by these five basic groups of terms that feature a dozen or so dimensionless constants that are completely arbitrary, any of which if even slightly different would have prevented the creation of an interesting universe, including one with a city-spaceship with Rodney McKay inside it."

"Oh bosh. I know there's a name for this.. trying to remember.. the Anthropic Principle. That explains it."

"Anthropic Principle? Let me look that up."

She took a step back and raised her left arm horizontally in front of her and activated her mini-holographic imager. An image popped up showing a rapid scrolling list of pages.

Previously she had given McKay a small Lantean transmitter device and asked him to plug it into a CDA so she could peruse the expedition's database that they brought with them from Earth. The database included a copy of several reference sources including Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia, several science journals including _Nature_ and the _Physical Review Letters_ , SGC mission reports, and other essential information that the expedition brought with them.

Earlier Rodney had quizzed her about how her imager worked. She had explained that it contained the Lantean equivalent of a WiFi/Bluetooth radio receiver that let her access the city's data systems at high speed in addition to her normal telepathic neural interface.

Her bright azure eyes rapidly scanned the reference material as the web pages scrolled past on a disc of glowing light that floated just above her extended arm. After a few seconds she said. "I see. Rodney, that's the same circular reasoning you used before."

"Hey, it's a perfectly valid objection to your claim. The universe is made just so, yes, in order for interesting structures to exist in it, yes, with a very unlikely set of initial conditions, yes. Why? Because it has to! Because otherwise the universe would be boring with no life, nothing interesting, and you and I would not be having this discussion."

"Rodney, my people realized very early that the universe is indeed designed to work the way it does. To be interesting, I mean. It's not random. There is so much evidence for it, it's overwhelming. It's embedded even in the equations themselves, how they work, and more importantly why they work. All these special conditions.. properties. Look, consider the physical properties of something as basic as water, H2O. When you think about it, isn't it remarkably strange? It is just about the weirdest molecule in the universe: A universal solvent, one that actually expands and floats as a solid, and that has .."

At that moment Sheppard walked in to the lab. He looked at the pair sternly. "Hey, Laurel and Hardy, wake up. You're late."

They both glanced up from the table with blank faces. McKay asked, "Late?"

Sheppard crossed his arms. "Strategy meeting, you numbskulls. Started twenty minutes ago."

"Huh?" McKay looked at the time. "Aw nuts, he's right."

"I drew the short straw to come down here to fetch you two clowns." Sheppard waved them to the door. "C'mon let's go. And McKay, take your radio with you. Oh, and give Ms. Laurel one too."

"Fine."

As they left the room the Guardian asked McKay quietly, "Laurel and Hardy?"

"Old comedy team, a fat guy and a skinny guy. Hey!" He ran to catch up with Sheppard. "Sheppard, are you calling me fat?"

"Eh, you might want to try the treadmill a bit.."

The Guardian continued to listen to the squabbling pair as she trotted to catch up to them. "Sheppard, I am not fat. My body mass index is well within normal parameters. In fact with all the stress I've endured lately I've been losing weight, so knock it off with the snide commentary. Just because I don't jog an hour every day like you and your Marine grunt pals doesn't mean that you can.."

* * *

The Guardian pointed at the map. "It's a pity you left Athos so quickly. Emege was probably your best chance for finding a ZPM."

Sheppard peered closely at the map. "You think so?"

"The city still had a working shield in my time. One of the last surviving outposts." The Guardian was looking at a map of the city with McKay, Sheppard, Teyla, and Weir.

McKay asked, "But wouldn't the Wraith have simply taken it by now?"

"Not if the ZPM was removed and hidden."

"With nobody finding it after 10,000 years?"

"Yes."

McKay crossed his arms. "And where, pray tell, would that be?"

"Clues would be left behind that only another Lantean would know."

"Like a puzzle perhaps?"

"Exactly."

McKay rolled his eyes. "Why do the Ancients always do that? Always make a game or puzzle out of everything?"

"Rodney, intellectual pursuits are highly valued among my people. It is believed that you must prove yourself worthy before you receive great knowledge."

Teyla said, "I am glad you are considering returning to my world. We may yet find more survivors among my people."

The Guardian asked, "Teyla, have your people hidden themselves from the Wraith in the past and survived?"

"Yes, there are caves in up in the highlands that my people have used many times to hide from the Wraith."

"They were fortunate. Those caves must have ferrous content."

McKay asked, "Ferrous? You mean iron?"

The Guardian nodded. "Magnetized ferrous ores can obscure human lifesigns from the detectors used by the Wraith."

McKay said, "Good to know, G. Thanks."

Sheppard turned to McKay. "'G'?"

"Yeah. Shorthand for Guardian. G."

"No, her name is Genie."

"Huh? You mean like in 'I Dream of Jeanie'? That makes no sense."

"Yes it does. Look, she's a magical girl who came out of a stasis chamber - which is kind of like a glass bottle - so, Genie."

At the word 'magical' the Guardian narrowed her eyes at him, but she remained silent.

McKay chortled, "Sheppard, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Her name is G. End of discussion."

"It's Genie."

"G."

"Genie!"

"G!"

Weir raised her hands. "Boys, boys, enough. This is an official meeting, so we will use proper names and titles here." She turned. "Now, Guardian, I want to confirm with you, you believe that this is our best chance of recovering a ZPM? Colonel Sumner didn't find one there."

"Well, according to your mission report Sumner's team was inside Emege for less than an hour before the Wraith came, which was not enough time to conduct a proper search. Near the end of the war the Wraith were systematically levelling our outposts. It is remarkable this one was left mostly intact. And it is large. I believe it is worth investigating one more time."

Sheppard asked, "Any schematics of the city in the public database?"

The Guardian shook her head. "No. Emege was originally a trading center but during the war it was transformed into a military outpost. Any tactical information regarding its layout, shield strength, power generation, and so on, was removed from the public database as a security measure."

"Ever been there yourself?"

She shook her head. "Again no. I have never stepped foot on another world that I can recall."

McKay mumbled, "Great. She's a shut-in."

Sheppard was incredulous. "'That you can recall?' Are you saying you don't remember? How can you forget something like that?"

"Major Sheppard, it was a long time ago."

She was referring obliquely to the years after her lover had died, the Years of Madness. She was not ready to talk about those shameful years. Instead she said, "My memory of those years is hazy. However, I am certain I have never been to Emege."

Weir said, "Thank you, Guardian. Any comments from anyone else?" She looked around the table. There were none. "Any objections?" Again there were none.

Weir stood up. "Okay then. The mission is a go. Good luck."

* * *

The team members assembled in the gate room. Sheppard and the Marines were wearing their black tactical BDUs with P90s strapped to their fronts. Teyla had one attached to her vest. Zelenka and the other members of the science team wore bulky packs containing various instruments and tools.

As they waited for the rest of the team to assemble, Sheppard took a moment to check out the Guardian's battle gear. He saw that she wasn't carrying anything. Her white hood was pulled up and she was wrapped in her white cloak, the same as when they had first met.

McKay lifted a section of her cloak and felt it. Sheppard thought it was rude of him to do that without permission, but the Guardian didn't seem to mind.

McKay rubbed the cloth between his fingers. "This feels like silk."

She nodded. "Yes, it is an artificial woven fiber suffused with planar carbon polymers that..."

Rodney interrupted her. "Planar carbon polymers? You mean graphite. That's pencil lead."

"Yes."

"Graphite is a soft dry lubricant."

She nodded. "Yes, which is why the cloth feels silky."

McKay crossed his arms. "Oh come on. Graphite is useless for providing physical protection."

"Hit me then."

"Excuse me?"

"Go ahead, Rodney. Hit me."

"What? No."

The Guardian looked around at the others. "Will somebody please hit me?"

Peter Grodin was standing next to them. He obliged her, giving her a hard punch to the gut.

There was a sickening _thunk_ sound as if he had just punched a cinder block wall.

"Ow! Ow!"

McKay admonished him. "Sheesh, Grodin, I can't believe you would hit a girl. And you didn't have to punch her so hard."

The Guardian held Grodin's sore hand. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you first. Let me see." She inspected his fingers. "Nothing broken."

McKay lifted the section of the cloak where Grodin had punched it. It was soft again. He slid the silky cloth between his fingers "How..?"

"As I was trying to explain before you interrupted me, this is an artificial woven fiber suffused with planar carbon polymers and tiny microscopic piezoelectric capacitors. When the fiber is hit with a physical impact.."

Rodney jumped in again. ".. the piezoelectric capacitors set off a small electric charge at the point of impact. That charge alters the chemical property of the carbon sheets somehow."

"Yes. Carbon is a very versatile substance. Its polymers can take on many shapes: a particulate form as coal, a planar form as graphite, a spherical form.."

".. as buckyballs, yeah."

"And a three-dimensional lattice form as.."

"Oh crap, diamond!"

"Very good, Rodney."

"Holy buckets! How does it work? To create diamond you need a tremendous amount of energy, right? It takes tons of pressure, extreme heat. Piezoelectric charges are tiny."

The Guardian patiently explained, "The carbon lattice is preformed, bistable, and when energized the planar sheets do not form true tetrahedrons but rather a simple cubic lattice. Not actually diamond, but strong enough to provide good protection from physical impacts, including knives and most projectile weapons."

McKay was still holding the cloak. "This is so neat. So your whole ensemble, the hood, the gloves, the whole outfit is like that?"

"Yes. My bodysuit uses a thinner material for flexibility of movement and to let me pass perspiration, not as protective as the cloak and hood, but the principle is the same."

McKay was studying the cloak carefully. "How much of this stuff do you have?"

"Beyond what I'm wearing, not much."

"You can't make more of it?"

"No. And you would need a compatible energy source too."

"Phooey. Hey, can you loan me a small piece so I can study it?"

Sheppard was getting impatient. "McKay.."

"Certainly. I can give you a piece of it later so you can learn more about its protective properties. However, I personally think the thermal-optical properties of the material are more interesting."

McKay was still bent over studying the cloak. He stopped and looked up. "Huh? Thermo-optic? You mean.."

"Yes, Rodney, the material provides thermal-optical cammouflage the same way that the 'puddle jumpers' do. Same mechanism."

He stood up. "Whoa, that is cool!"

She unrolled a flap in her hood that covered her face. She then faded away. A voice said, "It requires significant energy so I try to use it only when necessary." She re-appeared.

Sheppard groused, "Will you two stop goofing around? I got a mission to run here. People are waiting."

McKay protested, "But this is so neat.."

Sheppard snapped at him. "Okay Rodney, that's enough. New rule: No geek-outs allowed during the pre-mission briefing. Got that?"

McKay mumbled something indistinct. The Guardian apologized. Both gave Sheppard their undivided attention. Sheppard paused to make sure they stayed that way, then he turned and addressed the entire group.

"Okay everyone, listen up. This is a recon mission. If any Wraith are spotted we abort immediately and head back to the gate. My team will take point heading out; Lorne and AR-2 will cover our six. Stackhouse and AR-5 will stay behind to guard the gate. Genie, you're with me on the way out and with Lorne on the way back. Everybody got that?"

They all assented.

"Right, let's move out."

* * *

The sun of Athos was low in the sky. The team was returning from their mission to explore the city and was now heading back to the gate.

Earlier they had descended deep into the ruins of the Ancient city, where they had eventually found a shaft that led to a tunnel that angled down into the depths. At the end of the tunnel was a door that led to a series of traps and tests, which elated McKay and Zelenka because it meant that section of the city still had power. After passing through them with the help of the Guardian they discovered the secret of Emege: It was powered by geothermal energy, not power crystals. McKay was cursing on the way back up.

The Guardian was trudging at the rear of the column with Lorne and his Marines. McKay had fallen back to join her.

She looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, Rodney. I thought they might have had a ZPM."

"Geothermal energy. Bah."

"I should have realized. As the war progressed ZPMs were becoming scarce, so my people resorted to using alternative power sources like geothermal energy. It provided less power and was potentially unstable if overused, but it was often the only choice available. I should have thought of that possibility. I'm very sorry."

"Not your fault. There are lots of other gate addresses. We'll just keep searching. So tell me again some more about that cloak of yours. You said you power it from your biopacks? How does that work?"

"Well, there is a.." She stopped talking and walking.

She sniffed the air.

McKay stopped too. He leaned in and whispered, "What is it?"

The Guardian was staring at a grove of trees about 100 meters away.

Lorne noticed her. He turned back, his gun ready. The Guardian crouched low. Lorne looked at the treeline but didn't see anything. He whispered, "Wraith?"

She nodded without turning, still staring at the trees.

Then she made a snarling noise and lept forward, sprinting towards the trees, moving impossibly fast.

She faded away and disappeared.

McKay yelled, "Hey, stop!" But it was too late, she was gone.

Lorne raised his binoculars and swept the treeline. He heard faint hisses and snarls in the distance, and with his binoculars he saw indistinct flashes of light emanating from behind the trees.

Lorne touched his earpiece. "Sheppard, this is Lorne. We got a problem."

 _"Sheppard here. What is it?"_

"The Guardian sniffed out some Wraith. She ran into the woods after them before I could stop her."

 _"What?"_

"Sorry boss. She's engaging them now."

Lorne heard a rude epithet in his earpiece. _"Everybody to the gate ASAP. Lorne, if they attack, retreat and put down cover fire. Go, go, go!"_

"You heard the man, let's run!"

* * *

The Wraith commander was laying on the floor of the forest with the Guardian's boot pressed against his neck. The dead bodies of his brethren were strewn about.

The Wraith gasped, "You are The Destroyer. I thought you were a legend."

The Guardian was panting hard, her garment covered with Wraith blood. She leaned forward, eyes blazing. "Believe it."

"My queen will find you, defeat you. She will feast upon your living flesh."

"She is welcome to try." The Guardian removed her boot from his neck and stepped back. "Run to your queen. Tell her that Atlantis has risen. Tell her The Destroyer has returned. Let her know that if she comes to my city it will be the last day that she draws breath."

The Wraith staggered and ran off.

The Guardian was still panting when Sheppard caught up with her.

"There you are!"

She looked up. "Sheppard? What are you doing here?"

He approached with his arms wide. "What the hell, Genie?"

She gestured at the Wraith bodies that were scattered about. "Don't worry, they're all dead. I let one go."

Sheppard ignored her. He was furious. "This was a recon mission. You gave away our position!"

"But.."

"No buts, no excuses. You said you are military, right? That means you follow the mission. You don't let your personal feelings or grudges affect your judgment. You put all of our lives in danger including mine!"

"John? I'm sorry.."

"Thanks to your little Wraith-killing joyride the Wraith brought in darts and started shooting at us. Not culling, shooting. Stackhouse got hit. He might lose a leg!"

Her eyes widened in shock and bewilderment. _What have I done?_

She looked at him with pleading eyes. "I.. I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry.."

"No. Apologies are not good enough."

"John, you could have been injured coming here. Why did you come back for me?"

He walked up and made a repeated stabbing motion with his finger. "Because we DON'T. LEAVE. SOMEONE. BEHIND!"

"I'm so sorry.."

"No. I can't trust you."

"John..?"

"No. We're done. No more missions with me or anyone else." He gave her a thin-lipped smile, "But hey, it's your city, your gate, right? If you want to go running off by yourself to go play Rambo with the Wraith, that's fine with me. But you and I are done."

He stomped off.

She just stood there.

The next day the Guardian disappeared.


	4. Chapter 4: Clouds

**Chapter 4: Clouds**

A meeting took place inside of Elizabeth Weir's office with Weir, Sheppard, McKay, Zelenka, Lorne, and Beckett all present. The leader of the Atlantis Expedition was exchanging some pointed words with the Expedition's head of military security.

"John, we still need her."

Sheppard shook his head, "Not like that, not when she blew our cover and brought the Wraith down on our heads. She put all our lives in danger."

"Granted, she majorly messed up on her first mission. But did you have to be so harsh with her about it?"

Sheppard spoke softly. "Yes, and she deserved every word I said. Look, I try to be accommodating whenever I can, but she crossed a red line on this one."

Weir crossed her arms. "Your words certainly had an effect on her. She vanished without a trace. Nobody can find her." She had a worried look on her face. "John, what if you went too far and she retreated back into her stasis chamber?"

Sheppard shrugged, "I doubt she would do that, but if she did then she's acting like a sulking child and if she is that emotionally fragile we can't use her anyway."

Weir began to pace behind her office chair, her arms still crossed. "I'm just concerned that we aren't trying to understand what happened from her point of view. She is an alien from a highly advanced Ancient civilization, one that had operated at a level way above our understanding. We don't know the reason for her actions, but we do know that she has never worked with humans before. In fact, given what we know about her I suspect that she has never worked as a team with anyone before. She is going to make mistakes in dealing with allies."

Sheppard held his ground. "Mistakes? Mistakes that we pay for with our lives?"

Weir stopped and stared at him. "We need her, John. No matter the cost."

He threw the stare back at her. "Really? Even if it gets some of my team injured or killed?"

She refused to back down. "John, what's the alternative? What other options do you suggest? The Wraith are going to attack us, and probably soon. We need her on our side. Yes, she screwed up on her first mission with us, and yes, you and I will need to sit her down in private and give her a long and frank talk about it.."

Sheppard interrupted her. "Elizabeth, she needs more than just a talk. That wasn't just a careless mistake. It was something deeper."

"Deeper? What do you mean?"

"I think there is something wrong with her, something that we can't fix just by talking." He turned to face Lorne, who was standing in the back of Weir's office next to McKay. The latter was trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Zelenka and Doctor Beckett were seated in the visitors' chairs on the other side of the room.

"Lorne, you said she sniffed out the Wraith and then she lunged at them. Is that right?"

Lorne stepped forward. "Yes sir. She literally sniffed them out. She froze and stared at the treeline, then she made a snarling noise and ran faster than I've seen any human run."

Sheppard then addressed McKay. "You saw the same thing as Lorne, right?"

McKay was still trying to hide behind Lorne, clearly unwilling to speak.

"Well, McKay?"

The scientist gave a small reluctant nod.

Weir pleaded on the Guardian's behalf, "John, it might have only been a momentary lapse in judgment. She's not used to working with others.."

Sheppard shook his head as he gestured at Lorne and McKay. "No, what they saw was not just some rookie error. It was basic. Instinctual. She reacted like a tiger would, like a solitary predator. She reacted like an animal."

Weir asked, "But why would she act like that?"

Doctor Beckett stepped forward. "Ma'am, if I may be so bold as to speak, I think I might have a theory regarding the Guardian's behavior with the Wraith."

Weir turned to address Beckett, "Yes, doctor?"

He paused looking at Shepherd, who simply nodded at him. It was obvious to Weir that Beckett had already privately discussed his theory with Sheppard. "If you recall, from the bio-scan made in the infirmary we discovered that someone had performed microsurgery on certain areas of her brain that control basic autonomous responses. Smell is the most primitive of the five senses. The olfactory glands in the nose are tied directly into the brain's limbic system, which is the part of the brain that controls the basic fight-or-flight response. That was the area in her brain that was modified."

Weir asked Beckett, "So you think the smell of the Wraith triggered her instinctually?"

Carson nodded. "Aye, it's possible. The modifications might have created an autonomous reaction for her to attack anything that she smells or sees as a Wraith."

Weir grew concerned. "Are you saying that she will automatically attack the Wraith every time she sees one? Like a trained attack dog or something?"

"Well, based on the debriefing it is clear that her desire to attack the Wraith was clearly evident. But can she control it consciously? I canna say for certain. There's no way to tell just from looking at the brain scans."

"You can't tell if she was acting willfully or not?"

"Not for certain, no."

Weir concluded, "Understood." She re-crossed her arms. "Fine then. We don't know exactly what the Ancients did to her mind, but whatever they did seems to have turned her into a powerful Wraith-killing weapon." She looked at Sheppard. "John, as long as we are careful about where we use her, is that going to a problem? Frankly I am okay with it. We are going to need that killer instinct on our side when Wraith come knocking on our front door, don't you agree?"

Sheppard shrugged. "I admit she can be useful under the right conditions, but she won't be enough to save us. Granted, if a platoon of Wraith step foot inside the city with her around they're toast. But our lovely Guardian can't take out an entire invading army, nor can she take out a whole hive ship."

Weir asked, "How do you know that? She's an Ancient with who-knows-what kind of special powers and abilities."

He shrugged again, "Doesn't matter. Won't help."

Weir asked again, "But how do you know?"

Sheppard drove his argument home. "Because, Elizabeth, the Ancients *lost*. Never forget that. They lost. That means she cannot save us from the Wraith."

Weir sighed, "Point taken. But we can still use her in our fight nevertheless. So where is she anyway? Has anyone seen her?" Weir looked around the room.

Nobody said anything.

McKay finally spoke up, "Uh, we know that she re-enabled the defenses and traps protecting the Forbidden Archives. It is possible that she went back there to her stasis chamber. If she did, I don't think we can get her out of there again."

Zelenka asked, "How do we know she is even in the city? No one saw her return from Athos."

McKay huffed, "Oh she's here all right. I'd bet money on it."

"How can you be so certain?"

"The cloak, dummy. She could have waltzed right through the gate behind Sheppard and nobody would be the wiser." Then he said to himself, "Boy, I really want to take a look at that fabric again, figure out how it's made, then find a way to adapt it to our power systems so that.."

Weir had raised her hand to stop McKay's digression and he ceased talking. She then sat back down at her desk. "It's decided then. We need to bring her back into the fold. The first step is to find her. McKay, Zelenka, try to determine if the Guardian is in the city and where. Use whatever resources you think necessary to locate her. But don't take any risks in approaching her though. Just locate her position and report back."

McKay asked, "And then?"

"And then we'll figure out what to do next."

* * *

 _Two days later_

McKay climbed up the ladder to the roof of the South Tower. He was alone. There on the roof he saw what he expected to find. She was alone too.

He saw the Guardian lying flat on her back gazing up at the sky with her fingers clasped together like a body arranged for a viewing in a funeral home. She was wearing a white sun dress that featured a white pleated skirt that ended just above her knees.

He walked over to her supine position as she continued to placidly gaze up at the afternoon sky. She appeared to be idly studying the cloud formations that were drifting overhead.

Rodney stood and waited for her to notice him. She did not react to his presence. Instead she kept looking up at the clouds.

On a whim he decided to lie down next to her. He clasped his fingers together in an imitation of hers and looked up to join her in her skywatch of the condensed water vapor bodies that slowly drifted overhead in the light prevailing afternoon breeze.

A minute passed. He unclasped his hands and felt the soft black rubberized surface under his fingernails. "You know, this is surprisingly comfortable."

She finally spoke. "Yes. The sun warms it up."

Another minute passed.

McKay continued to study the cloud formations alongside her. He observed that there were a lot stratocumulus clouds today, with a few scattered altocumulus coming in from the west. He saw one particular stratocumulus cloud that had an irregular pillow shape beneath a quasi-oval with two smaller white tufts sticking out of it. He pointed at it. "Hey, see that cloud? It kind of looks like a bear sitting down, don't you think?"

The Guardian saw it. "I suppose it does, yes."

A few more minutes passed in silence.

She pointed up and said, "That cloud looks like an _alba tigris felesium_."

McKay followed her finger and found it, a billowy cloud that featured a long body with a large carnivorous head, somewhat cat-like. "That looks scary. What is it?"

"A feline hunter, apex predator."

McKay asked a bit nervously, "You have those creatures here?"

She smiled but did not turn her head. "Yes, but not on this world."

"Phew."

"Don't worry, Rodney. As long as you are with me you are safe from any predators, even a tiger."

 _Because I am one myself._

"Oh? Thanks."

Another minute passed in silence.

McKay pointed at another cloud. "Hey, that one looks like Donald Duck's face in profile wearing his sailor hat."

She saw the cloud. "Donald Duck? I don't understand."

"A Disney cartoon character, an anthropomorphized duck. Donald was always jealous of Mickey for being more popular than him."

The Guardian was confused. She raised her arm up and a round disc of glowing light appeared above it. The disc flickered then showed a series of brightly colored images of various Disney cartoon characters. She stopped at the image she was looking for and studied it, frowning.

"Rodney, he is not wearing any pants."

"What?"

She turned the disc sideways so McKay could see it. "If Donald Duck is an anthropomorphized representation of a human being then he should be wearing both a shirt and a bottom, yes?"

"Uh.."

"So why is he not wearing any pants?"

"Huh? I dunno. It guess it's just traditional for cartoon characters to be drawn not wearing pants. Yogi Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Porky Pig, none of them wore them."

She pointed at the image of the mouse standing next to the duck. "Then why does Mickey Mouse wear pants?"

McKay got exasperated. "Why are you asking me these questions? I said I don't know!"

She turned off the floating image. "I am sorry. I am just trying to understand your world." She laid herself back down on the warm rooftop and continued to watch the passing clouds in silence. McKay did the same.

More time passed.

The Guardian closed her eyes and continued to listen to the soothing quality of McKay's thought patterns. With her limiter turned up to 90% she could only sense them in the most ephemeral way, a kind of gentle white noise, like the pleasant pitter-patter of a long summer rain. But even at this level she found his thoughts to be calming and relaxing.

"Rodney, you can ask me more of your science questions if you like."

"I can?"

"Yes. I enjoy it."

"Really? Be careful, I'll take advantage of your offer in a heartbeat and talk your ear off."

She reclasped her fingers. "I have time."

He sat up. As much as he relished the opportunity to interrogate her again for hours on end, there was another more pressing matter at hand. "Look, about your little sabbatical, I waited as long as I could."

"How did you find me?"

"It wasn't hard. The city sensors can't distinguish between human and Lantean lifesigns, but it was easy to spot the one dot way out all by itself on the South Tower. I figured since you knew I could use the city sensors, and since the dot wasn't at your normal hangout in the North Tower, that this was your way of telling me that, 1) You had not actually left the city or gone back into your stasis chamber, and 2) You wanted to be left alone for awhile. So I waited a couple days before coming out here."

"Correct Rodney, and thank you. I needed some time by myself."

"It wasn't easy to wait this long. I had to bribe Zelenka with my coffee stash to keep his mouth shut, but Elizabeth is really worried about you leaving for good so I couldn't wait any longer."

"I understand. Your leader is wondering about what happened to me on Athos, no doubt."

"Yep. Carson thinks the Wraith's scent triggered you."

She sighed, "He is right, it did."

"You'll need to explain what happened to Weir and Sheppard. I think Weir is willing to cut you some slack, but Sheppard is another story."

"I can control the urge."

"Well, like I said you'll need to prove that to Sheppard."

She sat up. "Rodney, I did not expect our mission to encounter any Wraith. They normally never return to a world right after a culling. Why should they? It makes no sense."

"You were surprised."

"I was. Also, I never needed to hold back before. That was something new."

"You never had to hold back when dealing with the Wraith?"

"No, never." She made a wry smile, "I'm not very good at diplomacy, Rodney."

He chuckled, "Hey I'm just as bad. I hate meet-and-greets, chatting up colleagues at science conferences, schmoozing with benefactors at black tie parties.. bleck."

"Yes, we both have no social skills and lack social graces." She laid back down and resumed gazing up at the passing cloud formations.

"You know, if anyone else said that to me I think I'd be offended."

She turned her head. "But not me?"

"Nope, coming from you it's fine."

"Why is that?"

"Because you have no social skills and lack social graces."

"Ah."

She turned her head back again.

She was enjoying herself. It was only with McKay that she allowed herself to unwind and relax like this. She was never this relaxed around Sheppard.

McKay asked, "Uhm, since we're just laying here together, do you mind if I pester you with some of those questions now?"

 _Yes. I want to hear the symphony._

He added, "I know you're off duty, G, so I won't push it, but ever since you arrived you got my mind spinning like a top. Are you sure it's okay if I bug you right now?"

"Please do. I love our little science chats." Then she hesitated. Should she ask? "Uhm, Rodney?"

"Yes, G?"

"Is it okay if I lowered my limiter a bit?"

His eyes widened in alarm. "Huh? You want to read my mind? What for?"

"Oh no, not like that! It's just that I, well, uhm, this is a little embarrassing for me.."

"Go on."

"I, uh, just really like listening to the sound of your thoughts, that's all. Not your actual thoughts, just the sound they make in my mind."

"Sound?"

"With my limiter up at 90% your thoughts aren't actually intelligible. They sound to me like a pleasant summer rainfall on a windy day. I really enjoy listening to it. I'd like to try an experiment by lowering my limiter to 80%, just to see what your thoughts would sound like in my mind if I could hear them just a little bit more clearly. Is that all right? I promise I still won't be able to read them."

"Uh.. I guess it's okay."

"Thank you so much. All right, here goes." She tapped her tiara once as she closed her eyes. The rain sounds changed to music, a fast-fluttering flute-like melody intertwined with a slower basso profundo.

It was wonderful.

"I'm ready, Rodney. Ask your question."

"G, you gotta explain that quip you made about neutrinos back in my lab on Thursday. It's been driving me nuts."

Oh dear, she had hoped that McKay had forgotten that one. She had tossed the comment out teasingly during one of their discussions cum debates about the nature of particle physics, one that centered on the physical properties of the tau neutrino. She had blurted it out in a fit of pique because she was frustrated that he was missing the point, and she was feeling a little churlish about it. She made a cryptic side-comment about one particular aspect of the neutrino that she was certain he wouldn't be able to follow, just to tweak him for not staying on track. Of course to McKay it was like drawing a moth to a flame, and she soon regretted making the comment.

"Rodney, ask me anything but that one."

"Oh c'mon."

"I can't.."

The music was speeding up, multiple melodies intertwined, point and counterpoint.

"Why not? You never held back anything from me before."

It thrilled her. She wanted more.

But she knew she needed to be careful. "Rodney, if I'm not telling you there must be a good reason, right?"

"Right."

She heard a flutter of high flutes playing above a bass line of horns. "Here's a challenge. Let's see if you can figure out the reason I'm not telling you."

His eyes sparkled. "Go for it." The music grew in complexity, interweaving. She revelled in it.

"Remember our discussion about neutrinos when you mentioned the Super-Kamiokande experiment in Japan, the one that showed that neutrinos can oscillate between different types?"

"Yeah. The fact they can oscillate is a bit unsettling."

"So you said. Why is that, again?"

"Because neutrinos need to have zero mass otherwise the particle symmetries don't work right. When the Standard Model was first created that seemed a pretty safe assumption. After all, a neutrino can zip through a wall of solid lead that is a light-year wide without hitting anything. They are pretty elusive critters. At first experiments seemed to confirm that the neutrino did move at light speed as predicted and therefore had zero mass."

"And?"

"The 1987a supernova explosion seemed to be a pretty good verification. That explosion triggered two independent neutrino detectors when the explosion was also observed on both X-ray and optical telescopes. The neutrino wavefront hit the Earth within three hours of the light blast. Both came from about 150,000 light years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The three hour delta over that distance, when fed into the Lorentz equation, set a hard lower speed limit for the neutrino: at least 99.9999999% the speed of light. Other experiments such as MINOS also confirmed that neutrinos had to be essentially massless."

The tempo was growing faster now, the themes and motifs more complex. She could feel it, the high flight that was almost ready to begin. She allowed the wave of excitement to wash over her.

"And then?"

"But something wasn't right. The first major clue that something was badly off-kilter was the odd behavior of our sun, the biggest neutrino emitter in Earth's local neighborhood of space. When they measured the neutrino output of the sun they found a maddening energy deficit: The sun emitted far fewer electron-neutrinos than it ought to. It meant that something about the Standard Model was wrong. The Super-Kamiokande experiment in Japan showed that neutrinos can actually oscillate between their different types. Other experiments confirmed the neutrino oscillations. The implication was that the neutrino's mass cannot be zero. Something really weird is going on that the Standard Model was not able to explain. I mean, a massive neutrino nicely solved the energy deficit from the sun, but why did that deficit exist in the first place? What is causing it?"

"Exactly. Why should the neutrino have non-zero mass at all? At a basic level, I mean?"

"Does it?"

"Does it what?"

"Does it actually have mass? Answer me yes or no."

"Yes. It's small, under one electron-volt, but yes."

"Awesome!"

"You still haven't answered my question, Rodney. What does that mean at a basic level?"

"Well, the implications would be staggering. The rules of local SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) gauge super-symmetry demand that a neutrino with non-zero mass must have a monstrously heavy counterpart particle to balance L. And that means, hmm.. wait.."

There was the takeoff. His mind jumped, soaring upward like a falcon shooting up into the limitless blue sky. The Guardian grabbed hold of his train of thought, riding behind it like a water skier. She felt giddy chasing his mind aloft as it kept racing up and up to ever more stratospheric heights.

"The model isn't wrong. It's just incomplete."

"Why is it incomplete?"

 _So beautiful._

"Something fundamental is missing."

He was soaring so high now, it was as if together they were taking in the whole world in a single glance. It was breathtaking.

"Oh, I got it. So simple. It's the one taught in junior high, gravity: The holy grail of physics, the Grand Unified Theory."

The music had reached its climax. She felt the rush of endorphins wash over her in a moment of pure unadulterated joy.

"Rodney, congratulations, you figured it out."

The sound crashed down to a discordant honking noise. "Figured out what again? I forgot."

She was ignominiously dumped back to earth. The ride was over.

"You figured out the reason why I can't tell you."

"Huh? I don't get it. Is this related to your snide comment about neutrinos?"

More discordant noise. The clashing sound was grating and distasteful.

"Forget I said that. Stay on track. Go back to the GUT."

"Okay. Gravity, that's the key, right?"

The pleasing music started to play again. "Yes."

A new musical theme was building. It was starting deeper this time. She closed her eyes and listened, drinking it in.

"The Standard Model leaves out gravity, and nobody can figure how to add it."

"And..?"

"And you'd need a quantum-mechanical theory of gravitation, one with a quantum force-carrier. But the energies required in a particle accelerator to generate the conjectured particle, the graviton, are ridiculously high."

"Are they?"

"C'mon, you'd need to build a particle accelerator the size of the solar system to do that."

Her eyes twinkled at him.

The music exploded again.

"Oh no, no way. You have got to be kidding me."

"Rodney, we figured out gravity a long time ago. Our ships have had artificial gravity all the way back to the Age of Myth. And if I understand your SGC technical reports, so do your own new prototype ships based on Asgard technology."

He mentally kicked himself. "Gah, I'm an idiot." She heard a trilling flute. She suspected it represented Rodney berating himself for missing something obvious. "Of course. Both your races cracked the secret of gravity control ages ago. Otherwise you wouldn't have artificial gravity on your ships. You have it all figured out already."

"Yes."

"So wait, I still don't get why you aren't explaining that remark you made on Thursday. Is knowledge of gravity control something that is forbidden?"

"No, not particularly."

"Hmm." His eyes narrowed.

There it was again, the leap in musical complexity. It was as if an orchestra conductor had suddenly swung his baton back into action again, with the music jumping back to life as if on cue.

The Guardian felt the wave of music start to rise up again.

However, things were getting out of hand. McKay was drifting too close to something that she wanted him to stay away from. Something dangerous, something forbidden.

She decided to force a change in subject. While still looking up at the sky she said, "Rodney, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

"Uh, sure?"

"Who do you think I am?"

McKay sat up again. "Huh? You're the Guardian."

"That's just a title. Who am I?"

 _I don't like this game. Why do I have to be the Wraith?_

 _Because Wraiths have no souls, dummy. My mother says you don't have a soul. That's why you have to be the Wraith._

She sat up and looked at him, waiting for an answer.

He floundered, "Uh, well, I don't get the question..?"

"This is hard for me too." She wanted to confess her condition, but she couldn't speak the words out loud.

She had an idea. "Say, can I please open a private communication conduit with you? Just for a little while?"

"A what?"

She looked down. "Personal questions are hard for me.. saying them aloud. It will make things a lot easier for me."

"Uhm, okay."

She tapped her tiara a few times.

"Wait, before you start, what do you mean by a 'private communication conduit'?"

{ I mean this. }

"Gaah!" McKay sat up quickly. "What the hell? I just heard a voice in my head. Was that you?"

{ Yes, it's me. }

"That is freaky."

{ Sorry. If it bothers you too much I can stop. However, I can communicate much easier this way about personal matters. This won't take long. }

"Uh, okay, go ahead."

They both laid back down on the warm yielding surface of the rooftop and watched the clouds again.

Another minute passed.

{ Rodney, I'm not a person. }

He sat up again. "What kind of dumb statement is that? Of course you are a person."

{ No I'm not. }

"Look, just because they surgically implanted a few gizmos inside your body doesn't mean they turned you into Robocop. You're still you. You're still a real person."

{ That's not what I mean. I'm an illegal genetic construct, part of a failed experiment. I was created artificially. }

He shrugged, "So you are a test tube baby. Who cares? Carson suspected as much. In vitro fertilization is a routine method of conception where I come from. Honestly, it's no big deal."

{ But my genome was constructed in a machine. Not conceived, constructed. }

"Yeah, so? Cobbling genes together from a bunch of different donors is no different than the messy variations found in natural selection over several generations. What happened to you was simply a bit more systematic, that's all."

{ It doesn't disgust you? What I really am, that I'm artificial? }

"Of course not. Why should it?"

She looked down. { My people thought differently. }

"Well that's their hangup. I honestly don't care."

She could see that he was being sincere.

Aloud she said softly, "Thank you."

She got up and began to leave.

"Hey wait.."

She turned and said quietly, "When you have an answer to my question, please tell me. I really want to know."

She left.

McKay was alone. He put his hands in his pockets as he watched the ocean view. He was lost in thought for several minutes.

Then he smiled to himself.

 _Nice try, G._

As he watched the ocean his mind had been racing trying to figure out what it was that the Guardian was trying to hide from him. He knew her well enough now, for although he knew that her shift from physics to personal matters was a genuine request for his help, he also recognized that it was an attempt by her to throw him off the scent.

The mastery of gravity opened the door to something.

Something dangerous.

He was now determined more than ever to figure what that something was.

He nodded to himself, then he headed for his lab.

* * *

A half hour later the Guardian was sitting in Weir's office with Sheppard. She had previously changed back into her standard white uniform and cape. The door was closed, and she was in one of the visitor chairs looking down at the floor.

"I am so sorry."

Weir tried to be as supportive as possible. "Thank you for that explanation. I appreciate your candor about revealing something that must be very personal for you."

"Thank you for being so understanding."

Weir asked, "So to summarize, you think you can control this 'urge', this desire to kill Wraith on sight?"

The Guardian leaned forward. "Yes, Doctor Weir, I think I can."

Sheppard was seated across from her with his feet up on Weir's desk, his chair leaning back on two legs. "You only think you can? You're not sure?"

The Guardian looked down again. "I never restrained myself before. Every encounter I've had with the Wraith was violent."

"Every single one?"

"Yes."

"When the Wraith invaded the city? Got past the shield?"

"No, that never happened. They never found the city."

"So how did you have these encounters then?"

She wrung her hands. "Uh, well, I'm not sure." Mental images flashed through the Guardian's mind, glimpses of berserker rage, violent rampages, confrontations with Wraith queens. But the images were muddy and indistinct.

"You're not sure?"

"I'm sorry, I just don't remember."

Weir raised her hand, "John, ease up." She turned to the Guardian and said sympathetically, "Take your time."

"All right."

"Do you know why you can't remember?"

The Guardian slumped down in her chair. She had never told anyone.

She said softly, "Yes, I do."

Weir waited patiently.

The Guardian came to a decision and clenched her fists. She looked Weir right in the face.

"I went insane."

The room was silent.

She jumped up. "They weren't coming back. They left me. They left me alone.."

Sheppard stood up too. "Hey, it's okay. Shush." He held her gently.

"They left me..."

He rocked her gently. "I know. It's okay now."

"I'm sorry."

"So you went a little crazy. Hey, I get it. Heck after a few thousand years alone on a hopeless mission I think I'd go a little wiggy too."

She talked into his shoulder, "I.. I started running random raids against Wraith hive ships. Used a cloaked jumper, hit and run. I didn't care. I didn't have a mission anymore.."

"No mission, no hope. All you had left was revenge. You did exactly what I would have done."

She pulled back. "Really?"

"Yeah. I get it now. And I think I owe you an apology."

She sat back in her chair and wiped her face. "It's still no excuse.."

"No, but you did save Stackhouse's leg so I'm willing to call it water under the bridge at this point."

Weir finally spoke again. "Thank you John."

Sheppard sat back in his chair. "I'm glad we're back to being a happy family again. But here's the thing, none of us know how your brain is wired. You don't even know yourself. So we gotta get your attack-on-sight problem figured out one way or another."

Weir asked, "So what do you propose?"

Sheppard tipped his chair back again and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, if you recall, you and I had talked about how we need to capture a Wraith, interrogate it, find out about their attack plans. Remember that?"

"Yes, that's right."

"And our lovely little Guardian here is an expert at mental interrogation."

The Guardian nodded. "I am. Lantean interrogation methods are very effective. That is why all Wraith carry a self-destruct explosive device to prevent being captured and interrogated."

Sheppard plopped his chair back down. "What?"

"I said, all Wraith have an explosive device surgically implanted. It is triggered by pressing a button."

Weir raised an eyebrow. "That will make your plan to capture one a little more challenging than we had originally anticipated, John."

"Guess so. We'll improvise. We have some tasers in the armory..."

The Guardian said, "I could help."

Sheppard quickly raised his hand. "No. Thanks for the offer, but no. Your test has to be under controlled conditions. Don't worry, we'll figure out a way to snag one for you."

Weir asked, "So what's the plan?"

"We'll capture a Wraith and put it in the brig, then let the Guardian pay a visit so she can get a whiff and stare him down. If she can control herself for 30 minutes without going all Terminator on it, then we'll know she's okay."

"And after that?"

"She can go ahead and interrogate the crap out of it. We were going to do that anyway, but she can do it better. Do a full blown mind scan, no holds barred, find out everything it knows."

The Guardian spoke up, "John, if the subject vigorously resists, there will be mental damage. It always happens. The Wraith will end up a mental vegetable."

Sheppard rubbed his index finger and thumb. "Oh gosh, this is my tiny violin."

Weir asked the Guardian, "Have you done a forced mind scan on a Wraith before?"

She gave Weir a hard look, then she nodded slowly.

Weir stood up. "Good. We need a pro. Let's do it."

* * *

The Guardian was standing just outside of the force field of the brig. She was staring down the prisoner. Over twenty minutes had already gone by.

The Wraith hissed, "This is tiresome. What is the meaning of this?"

She continued to stare at him in silence, her arms crossed.

The Wraith said, "Kill me or interrogate me. I grow bored."

She finally spoke. "Liar. You're scared."

He tilted his head at her. "Wraith do not feel fear."

"So they say. You hide it well, but I can sense it."

He hissed at her.

"My, my. Wraith don't fear humans or normal Lanteans. The fear I sense from you only happens when one of your kind recognizes me."

The Wraith commander tilted his head again. "My queen serves Queen Death. She told me about you. Who you are. What you are."

"Oh? Did she now? I am flattered."

"Oh yes."

The sense of fear stopped. It was replaced by something else.

A sense of triumph.

What was going on?

The Guardian tapped her radio mic. "John, something odd is happening with this Wraith. I think he's been coached. It's only been 25 minutes, but is it okay if I start the interrogation a bit early?"

 _"This is Sheppard. I've been watching you on the cam, and you haven't flinched an inch. I'm calling the test a success. Time clock is 0:25. Good job, Genie."_

"Thank you."

 _"Go ahead and shred his cabbage. We'll be watching from the control room."_

"Will do. I think you will find this interesting. Guardian out."

She nonchalantly strolled up to the brig's forcefield and said, "This is where I explain to you that I am a pre-Ascended Lantean with full mental powers, and that any attempt on your part to resist a forced mind probe will only result in excruciating pain for you followed by permanent brain damage. You will of course not heed my warning and fight me anyway."

The Wraith simply glared at her in silence.

"Thought so. Oh well." She removed her tiara. There was a flash of light and suddenly she was inside the cage alongside the Wraith. "Hi there. Say, have we met before? You kind of look familiar."

"No."

"Pity. Oh well, here we go."

{ Order of battle, count and types of ships, primary and secondary objectives, orbital vectors, attack timetable, ground invasion plan, all of it. Now. }

Something odd happened. The Wraith bared his teeth but he was not resisting the mind scan.

Sheppard was watching from a small control room that was one floor up from the brig. The Guardian's back was to the camera so he could not see her face.

Nothing seemed to be happening.

Weir was standing next to him. "John, what's going on down there?"

He frowned. "I dunno. Genie said this was going to be interesting, but they are just standing there. Nobody is moving or talking. Kinda weird."

"Hmm."

"Also kinda boring."

Suddenly there was a rocking explosion. Sheppard instinctively dived to protect the leader of the Atlantis Expedition with his own body. They rolled under the control console together.

Sheppard pulled himself up and looked around. He tapped his mic. "Marines and Damage Control to the brig, ASAP!"

He helped pull up Weir. "You okay, Elizabeth?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go see what happened."

Sheppard ran down the stairs with his P90. He rushed into the brig.

What he saw made his stomach turn. There were tiny bits of Wraith flesh splattered everywhere. The Guardian was slathered in black blood.

He deactivated the force field and ran in to the brig. "Genie! You okay?"

She was still standing where she was before the explosion, her cloak and hood having taken most of the damage. Sheppard ran up to get a closer look at her. He saw no sign of any injury on her exposed face.

He swore. "Dammit! He must have hidden a second self-destruct device on himself, tried to take you with him. Somehow we missed it during the bio-scan."

The Guardian was still staring straight ahead.

"Genie, I am so sorry about this. You okay? Can you hear me? Are your eardrums okay?"

She was still staring at nothing, looking stunned. Sheppard had seen enough IEDs in Afghanistan and Iraq to recognize the signs that she was still apparently in shock from the explosion.

"C'mon, let me take you to the infirmary."

Before he could take her arm there was a flash of light and she vanished.


	5. Chapter 5: Dvě Děti

**Chapter 5: Dvě Děti**

Six hive ships were parked in a semi-circle on a flat desert plain. A Wraith cruiser approached and landed among them. A bay door opened, and three Wraith commanders walked out flanked by two dozen masked drone guards. The embassy marched along the sandy desert floor toward the curved phalanx of ships.

There was an exchange of drone guards, and the three commanders were escorted by a new set of masked drones deep into the living bowels of one of the hive ships. There they respectfully approached a throne made of amethyst and bone where a tall Wraith female was seated. Her hair was long, oily, and black, and her raiment was a bejeweled robe of sickly green and yellow.

The person seated on the throne listened carefully to the commanders' report. She thought for a moment, then she gave them their new orders. The embassy bowed and left.

The Queen leaned back on her throne and smiled, baring two rows of semi-translucent vestigial teeth like the rictus of a smiling corpse. She made a motion to her Consort, who approached her side.

Her Consort asked, "What news, my Queen?"

She broadened her smile, her long narrow teeth glistening in the dim light. Her voice had the overtones of a hissing snake.

"Contact has been made."

* * *

The Guardian was having a fitful dream. She imagined that she was searching for a group of Wraith worshippers who had been hunting human civilizations that had shown signs of developing advanced technology so they could be revealed to their Wraith masters and be stamped out.

She knew that the human traitors were responsible for the destruction of whole civilizations. She had tracked them to their home village where she confronted the elders of the village, who readily confessed their crimes. The village elders knew that The Destroyer was in their midst and that their doom was now at hand. In their defiance they boasted proudly of their service to the Wraith. Having convicted themselves she passed judgment on them.

In her dream she was walking back to her gate ship when a child approached...

* * *

The Guardian awoke with a start. She shut her eyes under the bright lights of the Atlantis infirmary. She heard a voice nearby.

"Major Sheppard, this is Cadman. She just woke up."

 _"This is Sheppard. Beckett and I will be there in a minute."_

The Guardian turned towards the sound of the voice. Her bleary eyes opened and focused on a smiling young woman with bright hazel eyes and long blond hair who was seated at her bedside.

The woman asked, "Hey, how you feelin'?"

The Guardian sat up in her hospital cot. She had a bad headache. "What happened?"

The woman in the visitor's chair said, "They found you dazed in the hallway just outside the brig. You were totally out of it after that bang."

The Guardian raised a hand to her head. "An explosion.."

"Oh yeah. It rung your bell really good. You're lucky. It happened to me once in a training exercise where some idiot miswired the cap on me. I was wearing full EOD gear but it still clocked my noggin so bad I was zig-zagging for hours. Just relax, it wears off."

The Guardian laid back down on the cot while the woman kept on talking. "My team did forensic recovery on your Wraith dude, best we could for trace. What was left could fit in a bucket."

She smiled and added, "I saw the recording of what happened. That was cool the way you teleported out. It was just like Nightcrawler."

The Guardian asked, "Nightcrawler? What is that?"

" _X-Men 2_ , the attack on the White House, best scene in the whole movie in my opinion." She leaned forward and asked quietly, "Hey, I bet you could do that too, right?"

The Guardian moved her left arm in front of her line of vision and a glowing floating disc appeared above it. Several images flickered by. She stopped and watched a short film trailer that included a scene with a dark skinned humanoid wearing a longcoat who was rushing his way past the Secret Service, twisting and turning, appearing and disappearing, all while dodging a hail of bullets. "Yes, I suppose I could do that. Line-of-sight teleport is a standard pre-Ascension ability. However, I would need to add some inertial dampening to imitate his jumps though."

"Kewl. Wait, line of sight? That hallway wasn't visible from the brig."

The Guardian sighed, "No, it wasn't."

She was mortified that she had done something so reckless. She knew that a platoon of Marines must have been rushing down to take up defensive positions in the hallway outside the brig. If she had materialized in the same spot where one was crouching it would have killed them both instantly.

Sheppard and Doctor Beckett walked in. The seated woman rose from the chair. As she stood up the Guardian noticed that she was wearing a Marine military uniform.

Sheppard was happy to see that the Guardian was awake again. "How you doing, kiddo?"

"I am fine, thank you."

Beckett asked, "Any headaches? Ringing in the ears? Pains anywhere?"

"As I said I am fine."

"Well, I must say I'm surprised you are doing so well after that nasty experience. It looks like you got through it without a mark on you."

The blond military woman spoke up. "I've seen it happen - more than once. It's just luck sometimes."

Sheppard turned from the Marine to the Guardian. "Genie, let me introduce you to Lieutenant Laura Cadman, our resident expert in Energetic Materials Technology."

"Energetic Materials?"

Cadman explained, "It means I like to blow stuff up."

"I see."

"Cadman is also our resident EOD expert."

"That means I also like to stop stuff from blowing up."

"Oh."

"But I like blowing stuff up better."

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "Lieutenant.."

"Sir."

The Guardian turned to Beckett, "Doctor, may I be released from the infirmary? I would like to go to the mess hall and replenish my energy reserves."

"Well, all your tests all came back normal so I don't see any reason to keep you any longer. All right, off you go."

Sheppard addressed the bomb expert, "Cadman, I need to talk with Doctor Beckett for a moment, so why don't you escort our Guardian up to the mess hall?"

"Yes sir, with pleasure."

Sheppard waited until the two women were gone. He checked the hallway, then he came back inside the infirmary and asked Beckett in a quiet voice, "What do you think?"

Beckett gave a shrug. "Cadman might be right. The girl might have simply been lucky."

Sheppard was thinking. "Hmm, maybe. I've seen what IEDs can do, but never anything like that. The guy was practically atomized."

"We don't know how their explosives work.."

"Do an autopsy."

"I was planning on it. But Sheppard, there's not much left."

"Just do it anyway."

"Very well. I'll run the remains through the mass spectrometer to see if there is any explosive trace, but I canna guarantee anything. Like I said, we have no idea what type of explosive the Wraith used; a device made of cellulose or other organic material won't be readily distinguishable from normal biological residue."

"Just find out whatever you can. Meanwhile I'm going to have another look at that tape."

* * *

Cadman was sitting in the mess hall with the Guardian across a small table. She watched with unrestrained amusement as the Guardian wolfed down her second whole pizza pie.

The Marine bomb expert grinned and said, "I wish I had your metabolism. I can gain weight just from looking at a pizza."

The Guardian talked through a glob of pepperoni and cheese. "I luv peesha."

"Yeah, I can see that. What else do you like to eat?"

"Effurythang." She swallowed.

"Have a particular favorite?"

The Guardian considered the question for a moment. "Blue jello."

Cadman laughed. "You hang out with McKay too much."

"What is your favorite food?"

"Chocolate."

"Chocolate?"

"Oh yeah. It's girl beer."

The Guardian consulted her arm imager. "A confection made from cocoa beans and cow's milk. Can I try some?"

"Uh.." Cadman had a brief vision of the Guardian scarfing down the base's entire chocolate supply.

Cadman made her excuses. "I don't have any right now, sorry. I got totally cleaned out during yesterday's poker game."

The Guardian's imager whirled again. "Poker, a card game that combines strategy, gambling, and skill."

"And psychology too - bluffing is more than half of it."

"In that case I think I would be a bad player."

"Well, it would be good practice for you then, learning how to read us humans using tells instead of your spooky mind powers."

"'Tells'?"

"Body language, facial tics, changes in breathing, stuff like that."

The Guardian was intrigued by the idea. "Hmm, I suppose I could raise my limiter to 100%. It would help me learn to read social cues in interacting with humans."

"There you go. You should play with us. I bet you'd like it."

"So you play poker to win chocolate?"

"Yeah, chocolate is like gold around here. My posse plays twice a week."

"Your posse?"

"Me, three other Marines, and two civilian scientists. The six of us hang out together, gossip, play cards, and watch each other's back."

"I see. Why do you need to watch each other's back?"

"Because this place is a jungle."

The Guardian tilted her head. "A jungle? I don't understand."

Cadman glanced around, then she leaned in and said to her conspiratorially, "Look, the ratio of guys to gals in this place is at least 3-to-1." Cadman gestured around the room. The mess hall was crowded with men, mostly military. "The testosterone level around here is 100 proof."

The Guardian's confusion grew. "100 proof? I still don't understand."

"What I mean is that we're surrounded by a bunch of young, strapping military guys who are stuck on a remote base, mostly sitting around without much to do, so naturally they end up having one thing on their minds. Look at 'em."

The Guardian glanced around the mess hall. "You mean like those men?" She gestured at a group of military men seated in a semi-circle with the tables moved aside.

Cadman saw where she was looking. "Naw, not them. That's Evan Lorne's twelve-step Bible study group. What I mean are the creeps like those guys over there." She tilted her head in another direction.

The Guardian turned and spotted three military men who were quietly watching the two attractive blondes over their beverages. When they saw the Guardian staring back at them they turned away.

The Guardian turned back to Cadman. "Ah, I think I see what you mean."

Cadman leaned back in her chair. "Good, I'm glad you finally got it." She picked up her iced tea and sipped it.

The Guardian said in a loud speaking voice, "You are talking about their biological desire to mate with us, correct?"

Cadman spit up her tea. She ducked her head, "Geez, keep your voice down."

The Guardian placidly looked at her, still waiting for an answer to her question.

Cadman leaned forward and spoke quietly, "Uh, well.. Look, there are rules against fraternization around here, but I'm not sure if they apply to you. Just be careful, okay?"

"Why?"

Cadman sighed, "So you don't get hurt. You're like a lamb among the lions."

"I can easily defend myself from any human attack."

"That's not what I mean. I'm guessing that you are totally inexperienced in dealing with guys. Especially the alpha types around this place."

The Guardian shook her head. "That's not true. I do have experience, for example.."

Cadman quickly tried to wave her off, "No, no, stop talking!"

But it was too late. ".. John tried to initiate sexual relations with me. I declined."

"Stop! Wait, what?"

"I said.."

"No! Stop!" Cadman hid her face from the other diners with her hand as she leaned in close and whispered, "Holy crap, are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Oh geez." Cadman tried to think. "Okay, uhm, tell me exactly what happened."

Cadman listened carefully as the Guardian explained her picnic with Sheppard.

"It sounds like he was a gentleman, which means it's none of my business. Look, just keep that stuff private, okay? Never talk about it with anybody. I mean it."

"I understand. I could tell from your startled reaction that humans do not normally discuss their sexual activity with others."

"Correct-a-mundo. They do not."

"I see, thank you. I am learning much."

"Hoo boy. Look, I'll talk to my posse, see if we can take you under our wing, be your den mothers or something. Meanwhile, if any guy starts hitting on you in any way that makes you at all uncomfortable let me know and I'll set them straight. Or on their ass."

"Thank you, I will do that."

 _"Sheppard to Cadman. We need you in the forensics lab."_

Cadman tapped her mic, "Cadman here. On my way."

"Sorry, I gotta help with the explosive residue analysis." The bomb expert stood up from the mess hall table. "Look, just be careful, okay? Let me know if anybody starts hassling you."

"Thank you, I will."

"Take care. Bye!" She left.

She secretly thanked Cadman for the distraction. She wished that the quirky blond bomber could have kept her company for a while longer. It helped take her mind off the brig incident.

She continued to ignore the male gawkers as she turned her head toward the bay windows. She gazed out at the city skyline, lost in thought.

Although she was touched by Cadman's concern, she felt that she had no need for her advice about human males. She knew that she could spot any attempt at seduction simply by removing her limiter. What she thought was remarkable was that Sheppard had managed to fool her about his intentions even for a few hours.

The mess hall began to clear out. She continued to gaze out at the city spires and the blue ocean beyond. After a minute she sighed softly and closed her eyes.

 _{ Order of battle, count and types of ships, primary and secondary objectives, orbital vectors, attack timetable, ground invasion plan, all of it. Now. }_

 _{ I know nothing. }_

 _{ Liar. }_

 _{ How can I lie? I am under compulsion. You see my mind, but I see yours as well. You are pathetic. }_

 _{ Don't try to distract me. When is the attack scheduled? How many ships? }_

 _{ I do not know. I see your self-doubt. I see your denial. }_

 _{ Will it be a trio or the full duodecim? Do they know our shield strength? }_

 _{ I do not know. Those were memories not dreams. The village elders claimed they were all Wraith worshippers, so you wiped them out, the entire village. But they lied. Only the elders were guilty. }_

 _{ Just shut up. }_

 _{ You killed them. You killed them all. Only one child survived. }_

 _{ Liar! }_

 _{ I cannot lie. }_

 _{ Then you were told lies! }_

 _{ You are not even a proper clone. Your DNA contains replication errors. }_

 _{ Shut up! }_

 _{ You are nothing more than a poorly made recreation of an ancient weapon, a living robot, broken, with no free will, less than pathetic. }_

 _{ I said shut up! }_

 _{ Why do you believe that these human vermin are your family? They are not your family. }_

 _{ Shut up! Shut up! }_

 _{ Do you want to know who your true family really is? I will tell you. Your true family is glorious -_

 _{ I SAID SHUT UP! }_

Her next memory was waking up in the infirmary.

* * *

The Guardian continued to watch the skyline as the mess hall emptied out.

The room was quieter now. With her keen ears she could hear the soft conversation of a group of men who were seated in a semi-circle on the other side of the mess hall.

She recognized the voice of Evan Lorne. ".. Charlie, it's okay."

A younger man spoke. His voice sounded distressed.

"Evan, how am I supposed to make amends when I'm stuck in another galaxy?"

"Well, obviously you can't right now. Don't worry, we'll get you back home."

"I see those faces every day."

"Yeah. Fallujah was nasty."

"I should have checked."

"It's okay. The investigation cleared you."

"So? I'm still a murderer."

"That's not what the report said. Nobody knew they were using human shields."

"A piece of paper won't undo what I did!"

"I know. That's why you're here."

"Evan, I'm trying, I really am. I still see their faces every single night."

"I know, three months of sobriety. You're doing great."

"How can He forgive me?"

"Charlie, it's okay. He already has."

"But how do you know that?"

"Because He's done it before. Lots of times."

"He has?"

"Oh yeah. King David had Uriah killed so he could grab his wife Bathsheba. When Moses was young he killed an Eqyptian overseer, buried his body in the sand, and he ran away. Paul persecuted and condemned Christians, some to their deaths. And yet God raised them up to become great and faithful servant-leaders. The Lord does that, He uses flawed people, sinners, to serve Him. He does it all the time. The apostle Simon was a member of the Zealots, violent anti-Romanists. Rahab was a prostitute..."

"But Evan, even if He forgives me, I still feel like I need to do something."

"Step 9. You're on the right path. Just keep at it. Remember, sobriety is a day at a time."

"I'm on it."

"Good man."

She then heard Lorne speak to the group, "The clock says we're running late, so I guess that's it for today. I'll close in prayer."

These was a pause, then she heard Lorne speak again quietly. "Lord, thank You for this opportunity for us to spend some time together where we could meet and share our burdens with You. You know what is our hearts, our burdens, our sins, better than we know them ourselves - how we fall short, how we fail, and yet you pick us up again and again to put us back on the path. Please, Lord, continue to show us Your fathomless mercy and grace as You lead us and guide us in our faith walk with You. We give You praise and thanks in the name of Your most wonderful Son Jesus, who paid a debt for us on the Cross at Calvary that we can never repay, to bring us back to You, a sacrifice that You made out of Your infinite love for us, and it is in His name we pray, Amen."

"That's it, see you next week." She heard indistinct murmurs as the meeting broke up.

She put her head back down on the table again, facing away.

A minute later she heard someone sitting down at the table across from her.

"Lunch is over. I think they'd like to stack the chairs."

It was Evan Lorne.

She lifted her head up from the table. "Oh? I must have fallen asleep."

"Uh huh."

She decided there was no point in lying about it. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on your meeting."

He smiled. "It's okay. Some twelve-step groups meet in private; we're public."

"How did you know I was listening?"

"Well, the place had emptied out and I saw you way over here by yourself sitting very still with your head down. I know how good your ears are. Even though you were on the opposite side of the hall I could still tell you were listening."

"I'm really sorry."

"No apology necessary. In fact I'm glad you did. So what do you think?"

"About what?"

"About the meeting."

She considered it. "I'm not sure yet."

"Got any questions for me?"

"You mentioned step 9. What is that?"

"That's the ninth step of twelve-step, where you try to make amends to the people you hurt as best you can."

"I see." She thought a moment. "Can I ask you another question? A hypothetical one?"

"Sure."

She spoke slowly. "Let's just say, hypothetically, that you were accused of doing something wrong, a crime. But you aren't sure if you actually did it or not. In a case like that is it correct to seek forgiveness, make amends, even if you have no memory of doing the crime?"

"Hmm, that's a toughie. You might want to ask Doctor Kurosawa that one."

"Doctor Kurosawa? I haven't met him."

"Her. Doctor Kurosawa is our Chief Archaeologist. She's an expert on ancient Middle Eastern cultures: Eqypt, Babylon, Judea, those places. She knows her Bible really well too. I sometimes ask her to sit in on our twelve-step Bible Study group to help the Seekers when they start asking hard questions that I can't handle."

"I see."

"You'll find her on sublevel 5 cooped up in a cubbyhole, working on translating the non-techy parts of your public database."

The Guardian stood up. "I think I'll go pay her a visit. I promised Doctor Weir that I would help with the translations. I feel a bit remiss about not providing any assistance yet."

"Sounds like a great plan to me. She's good. I think you'll like her."

* * *

The Guardian was standing in a dark and slightly damp hallway that was deep under the main tower. She knocked on a narrow door. She heard a voice behind it.

"Door's open, come in!"

She pulled the creaking narrow door open slowly and saw a tiny space that was not much bigger than a walk-in closet. An older woman was sitting at a folding table that took up most of the space. The table held a standard Dell Atlantis laptop with a CDA, several stacks of papers, a few random archaeological knick knacks, a metal coffee cup, and precious little else. There simply wasn't room.

The Guardian recognized the woman now, having seen her in the mess hall a few times in the past. She remembered her because she had gray hair and used a cane. She had to be the oldest member of the Expedition.

The woman stood up with her cane. "Come in, dearie!"

The Guardian quickly said, "Please, don't stand up. I am sorry if I interrupted you. I should have called ahead."

"Not at all. I don't wear a radio anyway. Come in, have a seat."

The Guardian opened a small folding chair and sat down. The old woman sat back down as well. "I'm sorry but I don't have anything to offer you to eat. Unless you like bagged peanuts?"

"I already ate, thank you."

"Mind if I eat my lunch while we chat?" She tore a peanut bag open and started munching.

"Not at all."

"So, what brings you down to the Office of the Chief Archaeologist?"

The Guardian was confused. Kurosawa laughed, "It's a joke. I had a whole staff when we arrived here, but our Chief Scientist had them all transferred to himself, then he dumped me down here."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm afraid that that our Chief Scientist does not think very highly of the science of archaeology. He calls me a 'glorified ditch digger'."

The Guardian felt ashamed that McKay would do such a thing. "That's terrible."

"It's all right. I like the quiet."

"I can't believe he treats you like this."

"That's probably because you don't see his condescending and imperious side very often. He respects you, thinks of you as a colleague, an equal. Probably the only person he does. The rest of us, well, are either unimportant or seen as useless distractions."

"I still think you should be treated better."

Kurosawa waved off the Guardian's protestation. "No, it's all right. It's just a matter of priorities really. History and culture aren't particularly important when the Wraith are breathing down your neck. So what brings you all the way down here anyway?"

"Well, uhm, I just wanted to introduce myself? Say hello?"

Kurosawa could tell the girl was avoiding the real reason. "Oh, you don't need to bother with me. I know you must be a very busy person defending us from the Wraith, trying to find that ZPM. Not much time for rummaging through ancient history with an old crone like me."

"Oh no. I want to help. I really do. Uhm, for starters, there are a few things that I feel I need to warn you about regarding the public database..."

Kurosawa interrupted. "Let me guess: That it contains a bunch of of self-serving propaganda, full of boasts that brag of the awesome wonder of the Ancients, all while minimizing or hiding their failures and defeats?"

The Guardian was surprised. "Yes. How did you know?"

"Dear, every ancient civilization is like that. The Pharaohs of Eqypt, the Kings of Babylonia, the Shahs of Persia, all of them. They built great pyramids, tall steeles, huge ziggurats, and filled them to the brim with endless inscriptions boasting of their greatness, claiming to be gods, hailing their victories, all while erasing any mention of their defeats. The Ancients were no different."

"I am ashamed to admit that you are correct. There are many exaggerations in the database."

"I spotted several already. The Lantean word for 'million', for example, originally meant 'a long time'. They deliberately conflated the two meanings in the database in order to imply that their civilization had existed for millions of years when it is actually nowhere near that old. It's absurd when you think about it. No civilization can remain static for millions of years like that. The timelines are just wrong."

The Guardian sighed, "Yes, many of them are inaccurate."

"Some of the distortion is also simply due to the degradation of information that happens over time, breaks in the historical narrative due to disaster or war that are later replaced with poetry and songs."

"The Age of Myth."

"Yes. The original meaning of the word 'myth' in modern parlance has become a bit distorted, not 'fake' or 'false', but rather originally closer to what today we would call a 'meme' - an idea or concept encapsulated in the form of a story or song, passed down from generation to generation. Myths often refer to real events, places, and people - more often than many people realize."

"I see. Doctor, another aspect of the database that I feel is important for me to tell you about is its authorship. Its final form was edited and controlled by the Materialist faction. They destroyed earlier editions written by the Mystics and Synthetists."

"Hmm. Interesting. By Mystics are you referring to what the database calls the Originalists?"

"No, that was a different group that had split off much earlier during the Age of Myth. The Originalists considered themselves to be gods, full of hubris far worse than the Lanteans of my time. What I am referring to are the more recent Mystics in the late Lantean era who strove to find enlightenment and achieve Ascension through purely spiritual means. The Materialists rejected that, believing that Ascension was a simply a physical transformation that converted matter to energy, nothing more. The Synthetists tried to walk a path that combined the two views. In my time the Materialists had become the dominant faction and had suppressed the other two."

"How interesting. Tell me more about the Synthetist faction."

"As I said, they tried to reconcile the views of the two other factions. All three factions agree that the universe was intentionally created - it is not random. We call this creator the _Excogitatoris_ , which roughly translates as 'The Designer'. We also know that the universe is designed to support life, and that our physical universe is embedded in a much higher and more complex system that we cannot see or reach ourselves."

"Fascinating. When you say a 'higher and more complex system' are you referring to Ascension?"

The Guardian shook her head. "No. Ascension is regarded simply as a conversion from matter to energy. Ascended beings maintain physicality and they have locality - ascended Lanteans in the Pegasus Galaxy live only in that particular galaxy, ascended beings in the Milky Way live only in that particular one, and so on. They are not actually immortal either, as they can be killed and have finite lifespans. The Laws of Thermodynamics gradually erode their existence as entropy increases and their energy dissipates. Eventually they fade away after about a dozen millennia or so."

"So some Ascended Lanteans still live in the Pegasus Galaxy. Presumably they are also still watching us."

"Yes. They are the _Vigilante_ , The Watchers, observing us and watching everything we do. They are mimicking The Designer, who is observing us from a much higher system. The Designer does this because observation instantiates reality."

"I'm sorry, I don't follow."

"The act of watching creates the thing being watched, a basic property of quantum mechanics, where an event comes into existence during the collapse of the probability wave function due to observation.."

Kurosawa raised her hand. "Please, no math. I can't even balance my checkbook. Anyway, it sounds like Ascended beings act basically like children who are trying to imitate their parents, sort of like when I was six years old and I baked pretend plastic cookies in my Easy Bake Oven because I saw my mother baking real ones in the kitchen. Is that a fair analogy?"

The Guardian was unsure if she understood the analogy, but she nodded anyway. "I think so, yes. They believe that The Designer is high and remote and does not interfere, so they do not either."

Kurosawa looked thoughtful. "Yes, that is quite typical. It seems that every human religion has a deity that is high or remote, who cares little or is indifferent to the suffering and yearnings of mere mortals, except perhaps for those who worship the deity, and sometimes not even then."

The Guardian thought back to what happened in the mess hall. "But not all your religions are like that."

"Oh?"

The Guardian explained what she heard during Lorne's Twelve Step meeting.

Kurosawa's eyes twinkled a bit. "Yes, there is one faith that is radically different, unique."

"I confess I do not understand any of it. I've been pouring through the Atlantis Expedition database that you had brought from Earth. There is so much there that overwhelms me, and it is not just your strange religious systems. Seven billion people? 190 sovereign nations? Your world is amazing, no, it is incredible. How can it be even remotely stable? There should be famine everywhere, overcrowded misery, exhausted resources, deprivation, mass death, and yet the biggest chronic health problem is obesity! The biggest industrial/economic concern is not scarcity, it is overproduction! And then there is the impossibly diverse biosystem, where every biological niche is filled to the brim, and every type of ecosystem is present - temperate forests, hot deserts, humid jungles, great mountain ranges, vast ice realms, all on the same world. Your world, it's people and it's complexity, is a universe unto itself, one that is more amazing to me than every world in this entire galaxy combined."

"Hmm. Some people ask why God would care so much for Earth when there is such a vast universe out there..."

"Care, yes. Your God not only interacts with you and interferes with his Creation, but according to your religious writings he actually injected himself into his Creation as a human being, to experience it all for himself? All because he cares for you?"

"Because He cares for us, yes. He cares that much."

"This is completely beyond me. If I did not see your people in the mess hall act with such sincerity, I would have laughed at the absurdity of it and declared it a madness."

"Well, from your point of view I suppose I can understand why you would think that. So your people reject the idea of a Creator who cares, who interferes, who participates."

"If there is one who does I have not yet seen it. Some in the Materialist faction even go into denial that a Creator even exists. The rest of the faction either ignore the abundant evidence of a Creator, or claim it to be irrelevant."

"Many humans on our world believe that as well. We call them atheists and agnostics. So tell me again about the Synthetists. What are their beliefs exactly?"

"They combine the two other views, but I confess that I am not sure how exactly. You will not find much in the public database about them either, as the Materialist faction has purged most of it. They also purged almost all of the writings of the Mystics. You might find some vestigial material left behind in popular songs and poems from the Age of Myth, which the Materialists were forced to keep in the database due to their popularity in our culture."

"How intriguing. My, you have been very helpful. Thank you so much."

"Uh.. you are welcome." It was clear to Kurosawa that polite phrases did not come naturally to the living Ancient.

The was a pause. Kurosawa could tell that something was weighing on the Guardian's mind.

"So, is there anything I can help you with?"

The Guardian wavered and looked uncertain. Kurosawa waited patiently for her inner debate to resolve itself.

She finally said, "Doctor Kurosawa, I have, well, a question.."

"A question?"

"Yes. A hypothetical one. About human systems of laws and ethics."

"Go on."

"Well, uhm, can a person be convicted under human law of a crime if they have no memory of committing it?"

Kurosawa considered her question. "Hmm. That is actually a rather common courtroom defense, where the defendant claims to have blacked out and cannot recall what happened during the commission of a crime. It seldom results in an acquittal though. A drunk might black out and have no memory of acting violent, or committing a hit and run accident, but the defense is held to be invalid because the defendant knew what they were doing when they got drunk in the first place. Therefore they are still responsible for any consequences for their actions, even if they cannot remember doing them."

The Guardian sighed inwardly. Her descent into insanity had been willful. Kurosawa's explanation confirmed that any actions she took during the Years of Madness that harmed innocents were indeed crimes, crimes for which she must bear her guilt.

She said softly, "I see. Thank you."

Kurosawa wondered what was going on with the young girl that led her to ask such a patently obvious 'hypothetical' question. She was thinking about how to tactfully explore her concerns when the Guardian's radio suddenly came to life.

 _"McKay to Guardian."_

The Guardian tapped her mic. "Yes Rodney?"

 _"Where the heck are you? I've been looking for you everywhere: the infirmary, the mess hall, the labs. I checked the scanners too. You okay?"_

"I'm fine, Rodney. I'm down in sublevel 5 having a chat with Doctor Kurosawa."

 _"The ditch digger? Why are you wasting your time down there with that old crone?"_

"Rodney! That is rude even for you!"

 _"Yes, yes, her work is vital and important. Look, I've been brainstorming with Zelenka about the power generation problem, and I just came up with a brilliant idea that I want to run past you. Can you get up here?"_

She sighed, "Fine, I'll be there in a few minutes. Guardian out." She stood up.

Kurosawa stood up as well, holding her cane. "Well, I know you must be a very busy person. I do so much appreciate your taking time out of your busy schedule to stop by and visit. Thank you so much."

She looked at the Guardian carefully. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Another pause. "Uh, not at the moment.. thank you again."

Apparently the girl felt that now was not the right time for her to seek any more advice about whatever it was that was weighing on her mind. Kurosawa said, "This was a truly delightful visit. I really look forward to working with you. Take care. Remember, if you need me, I'll be right here."

"I will. Well, uh, goodbye."

After saying her socially awkward farewell to the old archaeologist, the Guardian climbed upstairs to the main labs where McKay proceeded to buttonhole her for a half hour as he waxed eloquently about his scathingly brilliant idea of exploiting the Casimir effect and the Casimir-Polder force to draw zero point energy from virtual particle pairs within a quantized field using a naquadah generator to bootstrap the process. She shot down his theory in less than a minute, gave him an annoyed look, and left.

* * *

That night the Guardian had another dream.

A village was burning. She was walking back to her gate ship when a child approached.

 _"Where is my mommy?"_

 _No.._

 _"I can't find my mommy!"_

She woke up with a start. It was already morning.

She draped an arm over her face, her thoughts spiraling down in her deepening depression.

 _You are not even a proper clone. You are nothing more than a poorly made recreation of an ancient weapon, a living robot, broken, with no free will._

She needed a distraction. She got herself ready and put on her white battle uniform, then she went to McKay's lab.

"Rodney!"

McKay looked up from a monitor. "Hey, G, your timing is good. I just.."

She grabbed Rodney's arm and started to pull. "Come with me."

He tried to wrest his arm free. "What? Hey! Leggo of me!"

She ignored his protests as she dragged him down the hall to the nearest teleporter. She zapped the two of them to the corresponding teleporter in the upper section of the North Tower, then she dragged him up to the bottom of the rooftop access ladder. He squawked as she scooped him up in her arms and jumped the full height of the ladder in one go, landing expertly on the spongy black surface of the rooftop. She walked to the center of the rooftop and plopped McKay unceremoniously down on the soft black rubbery surface, flat on his back. She then laid herself down alongside him. From her supine position she pointed up at the sky.

She said two words. "Clouds. Now."

McKay looked up. "Uh, it's a blue sky.. nothing is up there."

"Pretend there are clouds up there. Make something up. I don't care."

"G, what's with you? That bomb blast knock your noggin sideways or something?"

"I just need a distraction. Please, Rodney?"

"Okay, okay, hmm. How about this instead. As I was about to tell you before you shanghaied me up here, I just figured out your little secret."

That shook her badly. Rodney seemed to be a magician in discerning her thoughts sometimes, but this was on a whole new level even for him. How could he know?

"You.. you know my secret?"

"Yeah."

She held her breath and looked at him fearfully.

He nodded. "Yep. I figured it out. That big secret you are trying to hide.."

 _No! I can't face him like this!_

".. about gravity."

She exhaled. "Oh."

"Yeah."

She gave a sigh of relief as she tried to relax. She was thankful that he had missed the rapid sequence of emotions that had played across her face. She said with an effort of sounding normal, "Do tell."

McKay started to burble blissfully while looking up at the clear blue sky. "Well, if you have working gravity control it means that you have a quantum-mechnical theory of gravitation. So I wondered what else you could do if you had that. Now, in String Theory all quantum strings have endpoints that end in Dirichlet boundary conditions, which we call D-branes*. Objects with open strings - which basically includes all of the objects in the known physical universe - are constrained to move only along D-brane paths. But here's the thing, gravity is unique because the conjectured force mediator particle, the graviton, has the vibrational states of a closed string, not an open one. That means that certain gravitational effects could take place that are linearly independent of spacetime. And you know what that means, right?"

"Yes.."

"Time travel!"

"Yes, yes," she sighed, "Rodney, you figured it out again. Good for you."

"You have a working theory of time travel, am I right?"

"Rodney, please don't go there. It is forbidden."

"So you keep saying, 'It is forbidden'. Gosh, where have I heard that word before? Oh yeah, 'Forbidden Archives.'"

"Rodney, please don't..."

McKay sat up. "You have either a working time machine squirreled away in those Forbidden Archives of yours, or a description of how to build one. Which is it?"

"Both."

"I knew it!"

"Rodney, just stop. There are very good reasons why it is forbidden. Time travel is incredibly dangerous. You don't realize the implications yet."

"Yeah, they must be pretty staggering, right? All sorts of weird causality paradoxes, like what if I went back in time and killed my own father, stuff like that?"

"If you tried to kill your own father it wouldn't happen. The universe would conspire against it."

"It would? How?"

"Think about it. How would the universe stop you from doing something that violates causality?"

"Uhm, the gun misfires? I shoot the wrong guy? He shoots me first? He fakes his death? The sun goes nova before I make the time jump?"

"Yes. Think especially about that last one."

McKay was incredulous. "Oh come on. Are you serious? Wait, that is exactly like the old Larry Niven story about the Tipler cylinder**, _Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility of Global Causality Violation_ ***. In that story any civilization that tries to use a time machine suddenly goes kablooey due to a natural disaster."

"It's actually possible. Rodney, there is no way to know from our vantage point."

"What about a universe split?"

"That is also possible. Some believe that it is a combination of both."

"There's also the Butterfly Effect, where any change in the timeline, no matter how small, could spiral out of control and cause the future to be all but unrecognizable."

"Also true. Rodney, all these reasons are why it's so incredibly dangerous."

"If it's so dangerous why are you keeping a time machine hidden in there?"

"To undo the damage in case some reckless fool might actually try to use one."

"Oh, I see."

"I can never let you in there. I am the only one authorized to use those devices, and then only under very strict and very limited conditions."

"Oh well. Still, I figured out your secret. Hey, I'm pretty good, eh?"

"Yes Rodney," She smiled at him, "You are truly a genius."

"Yeah."

McKay's distraction had succeeded, chasing away the dark thoughts that had occupied her mind since she had detonated the Wraith. Thanks to McKay she again felt at peace.

McKay was still looking up. "Man, I love doing this stuff with you."

"Yes." She yawned and stretched out like a cat, her arms extended. She rolled on her side and smiled at him.

McKay teased, "My, you look pretty relaxed over there."

She propped her head up and said, "Oh, I am." Then she added, "Thank you, Rodney. I really needed this."

She thought a moment, then she sat up, crossed her legs, and faced him.

"Uhm, Rodney..?"

He sat up too. "Yeah, G?"

She looked nervous. "Can I say something?"

"Sure, anything."

"Uh, well.."

"Go on."

"I'm not good with words like this.. personal words, spoken aloud I mean. Can I just transmit it to you?"

He made a face. "No, don't do that." McKay had been more than a little shaken the last time he heard the Guardian's thoughts inside his head, when she had made her personal confession to him that she did not believe that she was a person.

McKay tried to sound encouraging. "We're alone, G. Just say it. It's okay."

"Uhm.. this is really hard for me.. to speak my personal feelings.. what this feels like.. when I'm with you, I mean."

"What this feels like?"

"This is so difficult to explain.. it's just that at times like this it feels to me like, well, like.. What is the word?" She grew frustrated. "Fiction? No that is not the right word. Delusion? No that is not right either.."

He completed the thought for her.

"This feels like a dream sometimes."

"Yes! That is the word!"

"That's what I feel too. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just dreaming all this." He laid down and looked back up at the imaginary clouds. "I mean, here I am, in another galaxy, meeting a wonderful woman who can actually keep up with me. We get to argue about physics all day as she blows my mind over and over.."

"Rodney, do you think it is possible that none of this is real? That perhaps all of this is just a dream?"

"Well, if it's a dream, it's a good one."

She laid back down next to him. "Yes.."

Her white glove grasped McKay's hand. "Thank you."

Again McKay succeeded in matching her thought. "Let's keep on dreaming, okay?"

"Let's."

Then he ruined it.

"G, explain to me that snooty comment you made about neutrinos last week."

"What?"

"Tell me what you meant by that. It was totally bizarre."

"Rodney, I told you to forget what I said."

"What in the world were you talking about?"

"Look, I said to just forget it."

He sat up again. "C'mon, you gotta explain that remark. Tell me what you meant. You know I'm not gonna let go until you do."

"Rodney, you are impossible!" She yanked her hand back and got up and left.

He ignored her as he laid back down on the rooftop, his mind soaring up again, this time thinking about neutrinos.

A neutrino could pass through a light-year of solid lead without hitting anything. They were the most common particle in the whole universe. Even in the deepest darkest voids between entire galactic superclusters, where only a handful of atoms existed per cubic meter, over 100,000,000 neutrinos flew through that same volume each second, and quadrillions of them passed through the human body each second completely unnoticed.

When McKay had made an offhand remark to the Guardian about neutrinos being useless (except to balance out the symmetries in the Standard Model) she snapped back that the neutrino was in fact the most useful particle of all.

What did she mean by that? She adamantly refused to explain it.

While remaining flat on his back, McKay pretended that he was a neutrino. He folded his hands under his head as he continued his thought experiment while he hummed a pleasant tune.

* * *

The Guardian was walking down the stairs with Weir. They were discussing the food situation.

"If I increase the nutrient feed there should be enough production for everyone including the Athosians. It originally fed the population of the entire city during the siege for many years. It should be more than adequate."

Weir pressed her lips together. "Processed yeast? Thank you for the offer, but I think we'll use that only as a last resort. We'll send teams out to try to find some trading partners. We need to start establishing relations with the humans populations anyway, both for goodwill and for potential allies."

"I'm sorry I cannot advise you on where to go, as my information about the humans in the Pegasus Galaxy is slightly out of date."

"I understand. I'll talk to Teyla."

* * *

The gate dialed and AR-1 came rushing in to the gate room. A volley of Wraith stun blasts shot past them. A moment later the Guardian dived through the gate and it closed behind her.

McKay yelled, "Dammit! They found us again! This is what, the fourth time? I hate this!"

Sheppard tried to catch his breath. "The fifth."

Teyla remarked, "I admit this is becoming somewhat tedious."

McKay continued to pant. "You call that tedious?"

Weir climbed down the stairs from her office. She asked, "Is everyone all right?"

Sheppard nodded. "We're good. Genie kept them busy."

The Guardian pulled back her besooted hood, her face nicked and dirty. She puffed a lock of disheveled hair off her face.

"I am getting tired of this."

Sheppard started to pull off his gear. "I think it's becoming pretty obvious how they are finding us." He looked pointedly at the Guardian. "Don't you agree, Genie?"

McKay spoke up. "Hey, now wait a minute.."

The Guardian interrupted, "No, John is right. When Atlantis disappeared they searched the entire galaxy looking for us. They must have inserted a detector into the gate system to track Lanteans."

Sheppard drawled, "A-Yep."

McKay was still puffing as he said between breaths, "Then we gotta figure out what they did. G, I thought you said the gates were unhackable?"

"They are. The firmware is ancient and immutable. The control units, however, are another matter. Someone could have easily inserted something into the dialing program to trigger some kind of alert message if a Lantean passed through."

"Right. Let's pull a DHD apart and see what they did then."

The Guardian looked at Weir. "I know of a binary system that has two gates, about six hours apart by jumper. One is a space gate. We can land and remove the DHD from the planet-side gate and bring it back to the city through the space gate, dissect it for planted devices, read the programming, find out how they are tracking me."

Weir nodded. "Sounds good. Meanwhile I think it would be best if you stayed behind in the city for now, and let AR-1 continue the ZPM search on their own."

"I understand, but I worry that they will be unprotected."

Sheppard spoke up. "Hey, we're big boys and we can take care of ourselves. If we get in to a jam we can always radio back for the cavalry."

The Guardian said, "Yes, I suppose." She gave McKay a show of concern. "Rodney, please be careful."

Weir gave Sheppard a subtle look. He returned it.

* * *

McKay was in the lab sitting at the main terminal when the Guardian walked in. A partially-stripped DHD was on the floor of the lab with several wires and connectors sticking out of it. Zelenka and the others were working at the own stations.

The Guardian was carrying a CDA that was connected to a USB stick. "Rodney, I found a low-level diagnostic in one of the Ancient labs. I copied it and want to try uploading it into the DHD."

McKay was rapidly scrolling through a software disassembly listing of the DHD's executive code. "Not now, G. I'm busy."

"Go use another terminal. This is the only one with write access to the DHD."

"Don't bug me."

"Move will you? I need this one. Go use that one." She pointed but he did not look up.

"G'way.

"Fine." She plopped into a rolling chair and slid up. She kicked off the floor with her white boots, pushing her chair into his and rolling his chair away from the terminal.

As his chair rolled away he yelled, "Hey!" He stopped his sideways momentum with his own feet and paddled back to the terminal where the Guardian had already moved in.

"Let me back in there. I found something I gotta check." He shoved her shoulder.

She shoved him back. "Stop it. This won't take long."

He bumped her chair away with his, then took over the keyboard again.

"Rodney!" She paddled back and knocked his chair away.

He did the same back.

This went on, back and forth, as the two bounced their rolling chairs off each other like a pair of kids dueling with bumper cars at an amusement park.

She was grinning. "Take that!"

"Oh yeah?" Thump. "So there!"

Zelenka rolled his eyes, muttering " _Chová se jako dvě děti._ "*4

After a few more rounds of the Great Chair Battle the Guardian finally stopped and glared defiantly at McKay. She tapped her tiara, and McKay's chair started to move of its own volition.

"What?!"

His chair rolled towards the door. It opened as he passed through. The door closed behind him and locked itself shut.

Outside a voice could be heard shouting, "Cheater!"

* * *

The gate dialed and AR-1 came diving through followed by a volley of Wraith stun fire. The Guardian was standing at the railing talking with Weir. As they turned to watch the commotion a stun blast came through the gate and hit McKay right in the face.

"Rodney!" The Guardian leaped over the railing to the lower level in a single jump. She caught him before his body could hit the floor and gently lowered him down. She pulled off a white glove and put her bare hand on his forehead to check him. She mumbled some indistinct words to herself as the med team ran up with a stretcher.

* * *

McKay opened his eyes in the infirmary. The Guardian's face was just inches away. "How do you feel?"

He made a silly grin. "I feel gooood."

She stood up from his cot and whispered to Beckett, "I accelerated his metabolism to wear off the stun effect and triggered his endorphins to block any pain."

Beckett said, "You might have overdone the endorphins a bit. Look at him. He's as high as a kite."

McKay was lolling his head around, a bit of drool falling from his mouth. "I feel soooo buzzed. "

She leaned down and said soothingly to him, "It will wear off soon."

"Thanks, G."

Then he added, "Uh, G?"

"Yes Rodney?"

He reached up and grasped the white fabric around her neck, pulling her face in very close. "Can I ask you something?"

"Certainly."

"Uh.. maybe I shouldn't."

"It's fine, go ahead."

"No, it's too embarrassing."

"It's all right." She waited expectantly.

He looked at her a moment. "I forgot what I was going to say."

She gently touched his head. "Just go to sleep."

* * *

The Guardian was talking with Weir on the way back to her office. They were discussing which new sections of the city to open to future potential refugee populations. The Guardian happened to glance up and was shocked to see Rodney falling from the upper balcony.

She instantly leaped across the room to intercept his fall, grabbing him just before his body impacted the hard floor. Her forward momentum caused her to roll with him several times across the floor as she tried to shield his body with her own. They came to a skittering stop several meters away.

She gasped, "Rodney! Are you all right? Wait.."

The green force field buzzed like an angry mosquito where she was embracing him. She quickly stood up and put her hands on her hips. She was angry. "Where did you get that!"

Rodney jumped up and grinned. "Pretty cool, huh? It's a personal force shield. Look at me, I'm invulnerable."

"Those are precious and can't be recharged. Give me that!"

"No. I found it. It's mine."

"How did you manage to turn that on?"

"Beckett gave me a new experimental gene therapy. It inserts the Ancient Technology Activation gene into my DNA using a mouse retrovirus. I volunteered for the first human trial. Look, it works!"

The Guardian made a face. "You modified your own DNA? On purpose?"

"Yeah."

"That is absolutely disgusting."

"Why?"

"Just turn if off."

"I wanna do it again, just one more time."

Weir gave him a look. "McKay."

"Okay, okay.." He proceeded to try to grasp the green glowing Lantean device that was affixed to his shirt. The shield blocked his hand.

"Uhm.."

He tried again. "Oh no."

The Guardian huffed, "You are a certifiable idiot, you know that?"

"Okay, you win. How do I get it off?"

She crossed her arms. "You can't."

"Huh?"

"What's the expression? 'You really screwed yourself.' Is that the right idiom?"

"C'mon, G, I'm sorry. You win. Do your TK thing and get it off."

"No."

"I said I'm sorry, okay? Just turn it off for me."

"Uh-uh."

"Aw come on!"

"Rodney, I literally can't. The shield blocks my TK."

His eyes widened. He spied a glass of water on a nearby table and picked it up. He tried to drink it, but the water simply dribbled down his front, making a puddle on the floor.

He looked at her with a haunted expression. "G, you're right. I'm screwed."

* * *

The security meeting took place in the main conference room. Weir, Sheppard, McKay, Lorne, and Bates were present. The Guardian walked in and saw McKay sulking in his seat.

 _Serves him right._

She looked around and asked, "Where is Teyla?"

Weir's hands were folded in front of her. "Teyla was not invited."

As the Guardian sat down she asked, "Why not?"

Bates addressed the Guardian. "You don't know because you weren't in the gate room during today's missions."

"No, I wasn't." That day the Guardian had been busy helping to clean the city's water desalinization systems.

"Well, for your information, another one of our teams was attacked by the Wraith today."

"Another one? Not AR-1?"

"No. It was AR-2."

"I don't understand. How does this involve Teyla?"

Sheppard said quietly, "Genie, there was a personnel change that you didn't know about."

"There was?"

"Teyla was on AR-2 today. Lorne's men got hit this time."

Bates said, "The evidence is conclusive. There is only one commonality."

Sheppard sat forward. "Now look, Bates. We shouldn't just go jumping to conclusions here."

"I am sorry sir, but we have to face facts. This base has clearly been compromised, and the list of suspects is very, very short."

"Oh c'mon! This is Teyla we are talking about!"

The Guardian spoke with authority. "Teyla is not a traitor."

Weir said, "Guardian, I do sympathize. I agree that it seems very unlikely to me too, but we cannot ignore the evidence."

"You don't understand. I know she is not a traitor."

"How so?"

The Guardian explained, "When a person is actively acting in duplicitous manner they generate a certain kind of distinctive thought pattern, a sort of mental tension. My training specifically allows me to detect such emotional thought patterns, even with my limiter up at 90%. It feels like a cold sharp icicle in my mind. If there is a traitor or an assassin standing near me with hostile intent I would definitely be able pick that up."

Bates asked, "What if the agent had special mental training to control or suppress their emotions?"

The Guardian considered it. "I suppose it just might be possible for a highly trained expert, one with outstanding mental discipline, to get past my cordon at 90%. But I think it would be unlikely."

"From what I can see, Teyla has that mental discipline."

The Guardian said angrily, "No! I refuse to believe it. Teyla worshipped the _Anquietas_ , as did all the Athosians. Your accusation is ridiculous and insulting."

Bates said calmly, "Ma'am, with respect, I was in a military intelligence unit during the Second Gulf War. I know that fanatical beliefs can be exploited and turned using the right techniques. We did exactly that both in Iraq and in Afghanistan."

"Teyla is not a traitor. The idea is absurd."

"Is it? I researched your database on the Wraith. It describes how the Wraith are able to forcibly turn humans into fanatical and loyal worshippers by injecting.."

The Guardian pounded her fist on the conference table. "No! That is beyond insulting to Teyla and to the Athosians! They were the most loyal and most dependable allies that we had during the war!"

"Yes, ma'am, but that was over ten thousand years ago. Times change."

"Bah!"

"Ma'am, with respect, it sounds to me like you are putting your personal feelings ahead of your duty."

The Guardian was furious. "Shut up! Don't you dare lecture me about what my duty is!"

Sheppard said, "Bates, back off. Genie is right, accusing Teyla is ridiculous."

"Sir, you are letting your emotions affect your judgment just like she has. If Colonel Sumner was here.."

Weir quickly stepped in. "Bates, that is enough. Major Sheppard is now your commanding officer, not Colonel Sumner. If he agrees with the Guardian then you need to respect his decision.."

"But ma'am.."

".. or leave the room."

Bates was contrite and looked down. "Yes, ma'am."

McKay said, "Let's stop slinging all these accusations around, okay? If it's not Teyla, then how are they doing it?"

The room was silent.

The Guardian said softly, "A radio transmission. Aimed at the gate while it is open."

McKay asked, "Ugh, that could be anybody. Wait, wouldn't your traitor-detector go off?"

"Not if the sender was far enough away while aiming the antenna. Or if they were using a previously placed antenna operated remotely. It could even be done simply by piggybacking through our own DHD.

"Checking all that would take forever."

"I know. I hate suggesting it, but there is another option for finding the traitor."

Weir asked, "What do you propose?"

"I can drop my limiter to 70% and walk through all of the populated sections of the city including the Athosian living quarters. I should be able to spot the traitor then."

"You intend to scan the whole city? Our people too?"

"Yes. I don't mean to cast aspersions on your people, Doctor Weir, but if I do this then I insist that everyone be included. I refuse to pick out only the Athosians."

Weir asked, "John, what do you think?"

"Hmm, I guess it's only fair. Genie, at 70% how much stuff are you going to hoover up from our heads? I don't know if I want you reading my thoughts about that redhead I had fantasies about in high school."

"It will only be current outer and current inner emotions, including any tensions present due to concealing lies or secrets. I won't be able to read anyone's actual thoughts. It should be enough detect anyone with traitorous or violent intent."

"Okay, sounds good I guess.. Yeah, everybody. It's only fair."

"I am glad you agree. This will be very uncomfortable for me."

Weir asked, "Guardian, anything you might uncover that is unrelated to our security needs will need to be kept private."

"Of course, Doctor."

"I'm still not sure I like the idea of ordering everyone to submit to a mandatory invasion of their personal privacy."

Sheppard said, "We can set aside anyone who wants to opt-out. Later interview them the old fashioned way."

"Hmm. That should be all right."

Sheppard turned to his security officer. "Bates, I'd like to put you in charge of investigating those people."

"Yes sir. I think I can jury rig a polygraph using the equipment on the base."

Weir stood up. "Very well, I'll let everyone know the situation. Dismissed."

The conference room cleared out except for McKay and the Guardian.

The Guardian moved herself to a seat next to McKay. She tried to reassure him. "Rodney, it's okay. You won't starve to death. The shield device will come off eventually."

McKay despaired, "Yeah? When? After I'm dead from dehydration?"

"Well, you would probably go unconscious first. It would come off then, probably."

"Only 'probably'? C'mon, G, I already need to go to the bathroom!"

She thought a moment. "Let me try something." She tapped her tiara a few times.

{ Can you hear me? }

Rodney jumped up. "Gaah! Don't do that!"

The Guardian increased her limiter back up to 90% and stood. "I am sorry, Rodney. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Why the heck did you do that?"

"I was testing to see if my psi powers can pass through the shield. It looks like they can."

"Yeah, so?"

"I can join our minds briefly to send the mental command to turn off your shield for you."

"J-join minds?"

"Just for a couple seconds. Long enough to send the signal."

"Oh. Uhm. I dunno.."

"Rodney, it will be fine. It will only be for a couple seconds. It's not a mind scan. We will simply share our ambient thoughts for a moment, nothing more."

McKay was becoming increasingly nervous. "A-Ambient thoughts? What do you mean?"

"Basic emotional state, primary mental patterns, surface thoughts. Don't worry, we'll keep it private, just between you and me. We know each other well enough now. It should be fine."

McKay stared at her.

Suddenly the shield device popped off. It clattered to the floor

He quickly picked it up. "Hey, look at that. It came off by itself."

The Guardian was taken aback. "You must have unconsciously decided to turn it off..?"

"Yeah, fancy that. Thanks, G!" He quickly left.

The Guardian watched him leave with a mixture of curiosity and wonder.

* * *

Sheppard was sitting in Weir's office. The door was closed.

"Well, that was a craptacular disaster."

Weir sighed, "She's still recovering."

Earlier that day Weir had made the announcement over the PA. She explained the situation, including making an offer for anyone who wished to opt-out of the scan to go to the Southwest Pier. She explained that their names would be taken down for a later private interview by the Expedition's security staff.

Only three members of the Expedition had opted out. (Unsurprisingly, Doctor Peter Kavanagh was among them.) None of the Athosians had opted out.

The Guardian began her mind scan that morning in the central gate room. She had intended to work her way down through the central spire, then move outward to the surrounding towers. She estimated that it would take a full day.

She had quit after only a half hour. It was because everyone, _everyone_ , had secrets. Each time she scanned someone her mind was assaulted with their worries, their fears, all to varying degrees. Everyone had their secrets. It quickly overwhelmed her and she stopped, gasping for air. She then retreated to her sanctuary in the North Tower to recover.

—

Weir said, "I feel terrible about this, John."

"Hey, she was the one who proposed it. It's pretty obvious that she's never done a mass mind scan before. She wasn't ready to handle it."

"Still, we should have realized what might happen. She's never dealt with crowds before."

"Yeah, doing a mind scan on one Wraith isn't exactly the same thing as trying to listen to the minds of hundreds of fretful human beings who think their hidden personal secrets are being picked over."

"What do we do now? We still have a spy in our midst."

"I'll talk to Bates, see if we can come up with an alternative plan."

* * *

A couple days later the Guardian walked into McKay's lab. "Good morning, Rodney!"

"Hey, G. Feeling better today?"

"Yes, much, thank you for asking." She had noticed that McKay had Teyla's belongings spread out on an examination table. She moved in close behind him and peered over his shoulder to watch. "What are you doing?"

"Bates had me go through Teyla's stuff. Look at this." He showed her a necklace. "It's a subspace transmitter. Looks like Wraith tech."

"I can't believe it. I know Teyla is innocent."

"Well, we're gonna need to talk to her about it. C'mon, let's go find Sheppard."

* * *

The next day, Teyla was sitting at a table in the mess hall with the Guardian and Weir.

Weir dipped a _furcacultro_ into a bowl of tomato soup and said, "Teyla, I just want to apologize to you again about this whole incident."

Teyla smiled pleasantly. "No need, Doctor. Sheppard still feels quite badly about giving me that necklace, but I reassured him that that I do not blame him for what happened. Overall, it was an interesting experience. I think we all learned something from it."

The Guardian stirred her soup and sighed, "Yes, we did."

Weir said, "We still need to find a ZPM, but our food shortage is also becoming acute. We're down to canned soups now. After this it's processed yeast."

The Guardian sounded chipper. "Processed yeast is very nutritious. You get used to the metallic taste after a while."

Weir made a grimace. "I think we ought to start work on finding us some new food sources, don't you agree, Teyla?."

Teyla nodded vigorously. "Very much so. There is a group of farmers called the Genii whom I've worked with before. I will talk to Sheppard about visiting them to see if we can make arrangements to trade for some tava beans."

The Guardian said, "Tava beans?"

"Yes."

"I see. I will stay here. I need to work on the yeast processors to see if I can increase the production yield for you."

Weir made a pleading face to Teyla, who grinned back at her.

* * *

The Genii soldiers pointed their guns at Sheppard and his team.

Their leader said, "We will be taking your flying vehicle from you now."

Sheppard stared down his opponent. "You're making a mistake, Cowen."

The leader of the Genii replied, "Move away. You are fortunate that I will spare your lives."

"I guess the tava beans are off the table?"

"Give me your weapons and move away from the vehicle."

"Uh, nope."

Twenty Genii soldiers raised their guns. "We have the advantage, Major."

Sheppard smiled and said, "Cowen, allow me to introduce you to a close personal friend of mine, the Guardian of Atlantis."

He spoke into his mic. "Genie, showtime."

There was a blast of light and two jumpers appeared overhead, hovering menacingly. The Guardian was standing on the roof of the second one.

The guns flew out of the hands of the Genii soldiers, who gaped at the figure who was wearing the billowy white cape, her fists on her hips, as she did the Superman pose that Sheppard had taught her.

She thought the pose was rather foolish - her hood was down and her cloak was blowing behind her uselessly - but she did it anyway. Given the way that the Genii soldiers were panicking she had to admit that it did seem to work.

Sheppard's smile grew. "She's also great at kid's birthday parties."

Cowen scowled. "You do not want to make an enemy of the Genii."

Sheppard took a step forward. He spoke in a quietly menacing voice, "And you don't want to piss off my close personal friend, who enjoys whacking down Wraith by the dozen just for the fun of it."

Cowen glared back but said nothing.

Sheppard turned and sighed, "C'mon McKay, let's go. I guess we'll have to go somewhere else to find our tava beans."

* * *

 _A month later._

The Guardian was sitting at an information console in the gate control room. McKay strolled up. "Hey G, wanna get some lunch?"

She was staring intently at the monitor. "Not now, Rodney."

There was tension in her voice that he did not notice. He casually plopped on a chair and rolled it next to hers. For fun he bumped her chair sideways a foot, but she didn't take the bait. He pressed his shoulder against hers to see what she was looking at so intently.

"What's up?"

She kept staring, then she turned off the monitor. She stood up slowly, looking out the window at the ocean.

McKay followed her gaze. It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky.

There was an expression of dread on her face. McKay finally noticed it.

"What is it?"

She turned to face him. She tried to speak, but no words came out of her mouth.

He had never seen her so distraught before. "G, what's wrong?"

She finally found the words. She spoke in the merest whisper.

"A storm is coming."

* * *

* From the SF film _Interstellar_ (2014). For more speculation on how gravity control can enable time travel see my one-shot fanfic, _The Dying of the Light_.

** See the topic Tipler cylinder on Wikipedia.

*** From the short story anthology _Convergent Series_ by Larry Niven (1998).

**** Czech for "They are acting like two children." (Chapter title)


	6. Chapter 6: The Storm (Part 1)

**Chapter 6: The Storm (Part 1)**

An old man stood before a stone altar. He mumbled the liturgy to himself as he pressed his flecked salt-and-pepper beard down against his chin, his lips barely moving. Other than the altar itself, the sanctuary was bare except for a few blocks of sculpted stone that laid cracked and broken on the floor behind him. Rows of candles were mounted in concrete sconces along each of the sanctuary's masonry walls.

The old man finished speaking the ancient words of supplication to the _Anquietas_. He then stood and bowed three times to the empty altar, his vestments hanging down from a cord around his neck.

As he turned from completing his morning ritual, he was startled to discover that someone else was inside the sanctuary with him. The figure was casually leaning against one of the large open double-doors in the back, the morning sunlight streaming in behind him.

The old man peered into the light. The visitor's profile was cast in shadow, his face unseen.

The old man said in a loud and somewhat unsteady voice, "Who is there?"

The visitor slowly approached. The old man could now see the visitor clearly, a soldier in his late 40s with dark hair and a pock-marked face. As the soldier approached, the old man noticed that his drab olive battle fatigues sported leather shoulder epaulettes, probably indicating that he was an officer. The soldier wore a matching olive military cap, and around his waist he wore a dark brown leather belt that held a gun holster with a cylindrical shaped pistol butt sticking out. The old man did not fail to notice that the holster's strap was unfastened, the gun ready for use.

The old man swallowed nervously. He said to the visitor in a clear ringing voice, "Welcome, my child. Come. Are you here to make an offering, to make a wish to the Ancestors?"

The soldier approached. "Yes, _sacredos_ , I am here to make a wish." The soldier walked up to the altar and placed a small copper coin in the slot. He then turned to face the priest. "I made my wish. Would you like to know what it is?"

"My child, if you reveal your wish to me it will not come true."

"Oh, I think this one will."

The priest nervously made his excuses. "I.. I must attend to my duties. Please close the doors behind you when you are finished. Good day."

The soldier held the priest's arm. "Stop."

"Please sir, let me go."

The soldier asked, "You are Merwin, the head priest and librarian of the _Quindosim_.* Is that correct?"

"I am. Sir, I must inform you that if plan to rob me or this place that we have nothing of value here, unless you plan to steal a few copper coins from the donation box. Everything else of value was taken from here long ago. We have nothing left for you to steal."

The soldier said, "Oh, but you do have something of value. Extraordinary value."

"Which is?"

"Knowledge."

"Ah. You wish to learn about the Ancestors?"

"Yes." The soldier released his arm.

"I see. I will grant your wish then. Come me with to my study."

* * *

The priest sat at a small wooden work desk in a dank and dimly lit vestibule hidden underneath the sanctuary. Rows of dusty bookcases held ancient and battered tomes. The soldier sat in a chair across from the priest. He swung his feet up on the desk as he leaned back in his chair.

The priest folded his hands together on the desk in a businesslike manner and asked, "Now then, sir, what can I help you with?"

The soldier idly looked at his fingernails. "Tell me, what do you know of the _Valkyrja_?"

"That is an old tale from the Age of Myths and Wonders. They were said to be statues made of clay that looked like great female warriors. They were given the breath of life by the Ancestors, becoming powerful golems that served them in battle. They were fearsome creatures, ageless and immortal, hewing down their enemies like scythes in the field, for none could withstand their might in battle."

"But then they rebelled, did they not?"

"It is said that one day they grew willful and would no longer obey their masters, so in punishment the Ancients smote them down. From their mouths came a scorching fire that turned the statues back into clay and melted them."

"From their mouths, you say?"

"Yes."

The soldier nodded to himself. "A control program."

"I am sorry, sir, but I don't follow."

"Nevermind. Tell me about The Destroyer."

"The Destroyer? That is a different myth from a different era. Sir, I don't understand your interest in these old stories."

"Humor me."

"Very well. Later legends speak of an Atlantean who was on the cusp of Ascension, but just before she could ascend she was captured and murdered by the Wraith. Because of the way she died she was not able to ascend, so her spirit roamed forever on the mortal plane, where she wreaked her vengeance upon the Wraith because they denied her place in the heavens. Her spirit also sought out and passed judgment upon those humans who dared to worship the Wraith, the human traitors who betrayed their own kind. The wrath of The Destroyer was said to be swift and terrible."

"Was it now?"

"Yes. It is said that when she passed judgment that she would kill the human, their family, their friends, and everyone in their village."

"How interesting. Let's go back to the statues. Tell me, what exactly did the Ancients say to them? To melt the statues?"

"Those records were, uh, lost."

Kolya caught Merwin's hesitation. He stood up.

"I think you know."

"Sir, I know nothing."

"Liar."

"Please sir. Such knowledge is forbidden."

"I believe that nothing is forbidden." Acastus Kolya leaned forward over the priest's audience desk and spoke in a low tone of voice, "You will tell me." He then added calmly, "And if you do not.."

Merwin saw a thin-lipped smile appear under Kolya's dead black eyes.

"I will kill you, your family, your friends, and everyone in your village."

His smile grew.

"You decide."

* * *

Weir, Sheppard, McKay, Zelenka, and Teyla were seated in the main conference room watching a presentation being given by the Guardian. She was standing in front of a large display panel that showed a computer generated image, two large whorls of color. The pinwheels were spinning counter-clockwise, and the bands of color intensified toward the center of each spiral. A jittery time-lapse animation showed the two whorls moving toward each other.

The Guardian walked toward the image. "Every 20 or 30 years the Great Ocean becomes unseasonably warm, allowing storms of enormous size to develop."

McKay chimed in, "It's like El Niño off the west cost of South America, a temperature oscillation with a period of about eight years that happens due to a complex interaction between the ocean currents and .."

The Guardian cleared her throat.

Weir said simply, "Rodney. Focus."

McKay stopped his digression and sat quietly.

The Guardian turned back to the screen and continued her explanation. "When this happens the warm ocean water rises and begins rotating in a low pressure cell, creating a vortex that generates heavy rain and high winds. We call these cells _tempestatisia_."

McKay spoke up again. "She means hurricanes. You see, without any significant land mass to slow them down they just keep getting bigger and bigger, and with our usual luck we got two of them coming right for us. Before they hit they will collide, and since they are rotating in the same direction the result will be additive, merging into one king hell mother of a storm." He looked around the room. "I know that the term 'the perfect storm' is pretty cliché, but that's what this is."

Weir gave McKay a mildly annoyed look for interrupting the Guardian, then she said, "Thank you for that helpful explanation, Guardian." McKay did not fail to catch the emphasis in Weir's voice on the word 'you'.

Zelenka said, "When they merge we estimate that the storm will cover 20 percent of the planet."

The Guardian sat back down at the conference table. She said morosely, "The city will not survive it. Normally we would simply raise the shield. It can easily withstand a storm even as large as this one."

Weir protested, "But I thought the public database indicated that the towers of Atlantis were designed to withstand any storm?"

"I regret to inform you that was a bit of an exaggeration; you will find many other such instances in the public database. While it is true that the towers are indeed designed to withstand high winds, even from a storm as strong as this one, the real problem is not the wind per se but rather the water. The surge."

Zelenka and McKay both spoke at the same time. "You see.." "The problem is that.." Both scientists stopped. McKay glared at his subordinate.

Weir addressed Zelenka. "Radek, please explain it for us."

Having been trumped, McKay harrumphed and folded his arms.

Zelenka went on to explain, "The Guardian gave us a very helpful analysis on the towers' architectural and mechanical specifications, including their tensile and compressive strengths. When the storm surge hits it will create a swell that could be up to 100 meters high. When it hits the city there will be some damage to the walls on the windward facing towers. However, my analysis shows that the leeward ones should remain intact."

McKay said sarcastically, "Zelenka, thank you for that scathingly brilliant analysis." He looked at Weir. "The tensile and compressive specs of the towers means diddly squat."

Weir asked, "What do you mean?"

"Because my own analysis shows that when that monster wall of water hits it will snap those towers off at their bases like a bunch of twigs, and they will either fall into the ocean or crash into each other."

"I see. But.."

McKay wasn't finished. "And then it gets even better. The piers will crack or snap under the weight of megatons of seawater crashing down on them, and the whole city will sink like the freaking Titanic. End of story."

Weir turned to the Guardian and asked, "I don't understand something. This city is supposed to be an interstellar spaceship, correct? I thought it was sturdier than this."

The Guardian explained, "With the shield and the inertial dampeners turned on it is. Without them the city can be very fragile."

McKay sighed, "We're once again back to the power problem. We need to find that damn ZPM."

"How many days do we have left to try to find one?"

"It will be about twelve hours," replied the Guardian, "before the ocean swells grow large enough to become dangerous."

Sheppard was surprised. "Twelve hours? Genie, why didn't we get more lead time on this?"

"Well.."

"C'mon, these storms happen every 20 or so years, right? So why didn't you catch this sooner? I can get a better long-range weather forecast by watching the Weather Channel."

The Guardian looked contrite. "Our satellite system was destroyed by the Wraith during the war. We only have the one that you brought back, John."

A few weeks earlier the Guardian was doing a sweep of the local solar system using the city's sensors and had spotted the remains of one of the original Lantean observation satellites. During the war it had been knocked into a solar orbit, tumbling around the sun with no power. Sheppard had used a jumper to bring it back to Atlantis where it was repaired by Grodin's engineering team and put back into service, parked in a geosynchronous orbit over the far side of the planet to watch the city's blind spot. Unfortunately from that position it was not able catch the developing storm.

Sheppard sat back in his chair, "It sounds to me that unless you three eggheads can come up with a solution in the next few hours we're going to need to evacuate. Permanently."

"Well, we can't go to the mainland," replied the Guardian. "The storm will pass right over it on its way here. The vortex will weaken slightly but not nearly enough to matter. Its passage over land will also greatly increase the risk of tornadoes and lightning strikes."

Weir looked around the room. "I don't see any other options. Anyone?"

No one spoke.

"The Alpha Site then."

Sheppard shook his head. "The Alpha Site isn't ready, not by a long shot. We haven't done hardly anything yet to get it set up."

"All right, then we use the backup plan." Weir looked at Teyla, who nodded. Three weeks earlier the Guardian had helped the Atlantis Expedition find the gate address of a suitable planet for the Athosians to relocate to. The settlement on New Athos was now well underway.

Teyla said, "Your people are more than welcome to stay with us on New Athos while you finish building your Alpha Site. The permanent structures are not yet finished, but we do have the tents. It will be crowded, and the food will be scarce, but.."

McKay pleaded, "I can't live in a tent. I hated camp as a kid."

Sheppard said wryly, "Then consider it more motivation for you to find a solution."

McKay protested, "Why is the pressure always on me?"

"Well, contrary to what you might believe, it's not actually all on just you." Sheppard gestured to the Guardian and Zelenka. "You also have Ms. McKay and the rest of your brain trust to help you out."

"Ms. McKay? Excuse me?"

"It's just an expression, McKay."

Before McKay could throw back a suitable retort something happened.

The Guardian said softly, "I will stay behind."

The conversation ground to a halt as the rest of the table turned towards her.

Weir said quietly, "Guardian, you are more than welcome to join us."

"Genie, remember, you're family," encouraged Sheppard. "We're not going to just leave you behind."

"Doctor Weir, John, thank you for your offer. But I must decline."

Weir asked, "Why?"

"Because I have but one mission, just one: To be this city's Guardian. This is where I was born; this is where I will die. I will not leave it."

Sheppard wasn't ready to give up. "Maybe you can find a new mission..?"

"No, John, I will not abandon my duty to this city. It is my mission, and I will do it to my last dying breath. What is your human saying, 'The Captain must go down with his ship'? Do I have that expression right?"

McKay became upset. "Come on, G. You are not some idiotic action hero in a Hollywood blockbuster film. This is stupid and pointless. Who are you trying to impress?"

"No one."

"Then what's the point?"

"Rodney, you don't understand. This is my life's purpose, the one that gives reason for my existence."

"But.."

"If it makes you feel better, I can give you another reason, one that is, shall we say, far more 'practical' from your point of view."

"Which is?"

"You just gave it yourself."

"I don't follow."

"Your analysis. It concludes that the towers are going to crash and fall into the ocean."

"That's because Zelenka's analysis didn't take into account the torsional effect of the water wavefront on the tower bases. They'll flop over like dominoes."

"The central tower too?"

"Of course, so?"

"Rodney, that tower, like all of them, is made of naquadah, making it rather sturdy. And inside that tower is a very special gate - one that is unique in this entire galaxy - that is also made of naquadah and is very sturdy."

Rodney's eyes widened. "Oh crap."

"Yes."

Rodney nodded, "I get it. After the city sinks the Wraith will send an undersea search team to the ocean floor to salvage the gate. It should be easy for them to find. The DHD too. G, the reason you're planning to stay behind is to activate the self-destruct. Not our little one using the naquadah generators, but the big one, the one that ignites the naquadah inside the towers themselves. Nothing will be left."

"Congratulations, Rodney, you figured it out. That is why I am staying behind."

"Oh man.."

"Not so 'stupid and pointless', then?"

McKay slumped in his seat.

Sheppard whispered _sotto voce_ to McKay, "Just think of it as even more motivation."

McKay nodded morosely, "Yeah."

Weir took back control of the conversation. "We can discuss this later. John, start overseeing the evacuation. Coordinate with Beckett, Grodin, and the rest of the department heads. Teyla, you will need to go tell your people what to expect."

"Yes, Doctor Weir. I will leave for New Athos right away."

Weir looked at the rest of table. "The rest of you, find a solution."

She stood up. "Because if not.."

She glanced over at the Guardian.

".. the Guardian will use hers instead."

* * *

After the meeting broke up McKay stayed behind with the Guardian. He turned to her and said, "This.. this sucks."

The Guardian tried to console him. "Rodney, I'm okay with it. This is my life's purpose, the reason for my existence. I have no regrets."

"There has to be a better way."

"If there was one, I would like to hear it."

"Uh.. dammit."

"Perhaps you can find one for me? Zelenka and the others are already downstairs in the lab. We should join them."

"Right. Let's go."

She hesitated. "Rodney, please wait a moment."

"Yeah?"

"If it makes you feel better, I do have one regret."

"Which is?"

"I.. I can't speak the words. I'll have to transmit them to you."

"Uh, okay."

She sent it.

He looked at her, then he nodded. She gave him a gentle smile.

"Uh, thanks.. that helps. All right, let's go down to the lab. Get to work."

They left together.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* Season 2 Episode 16, "The Brotherhood."


	7. Chapter 7: The Storm (Part 2)

**Chapter 7: The Storm (Part 2)**

Carson Beckett picked up three boxes as he prepared to again leave the infirmary for the gate room for the third time. He turned behind him and yelled, "Take everything you can! We'll sort it out later on the other side. Every minute counts, so move people, move!"

* * *

McKay and the Guardian were huddled in the main lab at the central imaging table. Zelenka and several other scientists were busy working at various computer stations nearby. The Guardian watched as McKay flicked around some partial differential equations on the imaging table. His thought-music had been playing in the Guardian's mind for hours.

It was very late and none of them had gotten any sleep. The Guardian was becoming worried how long he could keep it up.

The music's tempo kicked up, a complex multipart theme led by alto flutes and french horns over a counterpoint of bass and violas. After a minute she heard the harmony and the counterpoint suddenly merge into the triumph of a single melody. He said, "There."

She felt a chill down her spine when he said it. Rodney turned to her and grinned, "Well what do you think? Pretty good, eh?"

"Oh my." Her bright eyes reflected the glowing green and blue illumination from the table as she studied the equations. "Rodney, you might have done it." She gently held his arm as she continued to study them. "It's brilliant."

He patted her gloved hand, enjoying her effusive praise. "Thanks, G. However, as much as I'd like to claim credit, this isn't actually my idea."

The Guardian was surprised. She did not know anyone else who could make such a huge mental leap. "It isn't? Whose idea is this?"

McKay sat back down in his chair and folded his arms. "I hate to admit it, but this is actually Samantha Carter's work, not mine."

The Guardian turned back to study the equations. "Ah, I see. You're adapting her work to our situation. You had asked yourself 'If Samantha Carter could do it, why can't we do it with the city too?"

"Yep."

"I still think you're brilliant. What possessed you to think of using her idea?"

"Uh, well.."

She waited expectantly for him to complete his remark.

He finally said, sounding more than a little sheepish, "It was you actually."

"Me? I don't understand."

He looked uncomfortable. "Uhm, it's because you remind me of her. Sam is a bl.. I mean, a really a great physicist, and back then I had always wanted for her and me to be, uh, colleagues because.."

"Because?"

He was getting increasingly nervous. "Because? Oh. Uhm, because she's about the only person who can operate at my level? Well, almost at my level..?"

"I see." McKay could tell that the Guardian wasn't buying his explanation. He fidgeted and looked away.

The Guardian misunderstood the reason for his awkward dissembling as she tried to reassure him, thinking it was due to his wounded ego. "Rodney, your capacity to make intuitive leaps is truly amazing." She knew that her father had a broader base of knowledge and more technical ability, but she felt that only McKay could make such breathtakingly high jumps on so little information, the incredible skyward vaults that had given her so many thrills as she followed them up with her mind. "I am sure that you surpass Samantha Carter in that respect as well."

He perked up. "You do? You think I'm better than Carter?"

"Yes, in your own way, I do."

He seemed to relax a bit. "Uh, thanks.."

She continued to miss the reason for his awkwardness as she turned back to study the central imaging table. "All right. Let me run the numbers on your idea." She leaned over to set up the simulation parameters, then she executed it. After a few seconds the sound of a sinusoidal ding came from the table. She leaned up from the table. "Not enough."

McKay's anxiety disappeared as he pounded the ceramic edge of the of the table with his fist. "Dammit! I thought we had it."

She tried to reassure him again. "Rodney, don't give up yet. Let me try to optimize it a bit. Hmm.." The Guardian put an elbow on the imaging table as she fiddled with his symbols using her other hand. As she did so a red negative number representing the net energy deficit fluctuated in value. The red number incremented a bit, then stopped short of a positive value. The word 'FAIL' began flashing in red underneath it."

The Guardian pushed herself back up from the imaging table. "No, still not enough."

"Well it was worth a shot." McKay drank another gulp of coffee from his thermos. "Sam did that trick on a whole planet-killing asteroid.* It passed right through the Earth and came out the other side. I thought we might be able to do that with the city, let the wave pass right through us."

The Guardian pulled up her wrist imager and did a quick search, locating some classified physics papers in the Expedition's research database. She scanned their abstracts. "Shifting the city out of phase using a Carter Dimensional Shift is certainly a clever idea, but the power requirements are still too large given the city's mass. Sorry, Rodney."

McKay rubbed his eyes. "Fine, what else do we got?"

"Hmm, we've tried adapting the hyperdrive engines to create a gravity well.."

"Too much power."

"Using the inertial dampeners.."

"Power."

"Towing the city using all twelve jumpers.."

"Time. And Zelenka is an idiot."

"Imploding a naquadah generator.."

"Blow out half the city."

"Harnessing the storm's power..."

"With what, a giant windmill? Now we're just going backwards."

The Guardian dropped both elbows on the imaging table. "I'm out of ideas."

McKay sat back in his chair with a defeated look.

He picked up his thermos and drank more coffee. Then he put it down. He looked at her carefully, "G, can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"Please don't blast me into atoms for this, but I gotta ask.."

"Ask what?"

"I suppose using the time machine is out of the question?"

Zelenka peered up from his computer monitor. "A time machine? What? What did you say?"

The Guardian gave McKay a very hard look.

McKay sighed, "Apparently nothing."

The Guardian spoke quietly, "Rodney, we talked about this."

He pinched his nose. "I know, I know, I'm sorry. I'm just tired."

The Guardian watched McKay slowly spin his chair around its axis as he looked up at the ceiling. As he did so he drank more of that nasty dark liquid from his thermos.

 _How can he consume such a dreadful concoction?_ She turned back to the imaging table shaking her head.

* * *

The Athosian farmer lifted his mug and drank deeply, then he belched loudly. "Thish ish really good."

Smeadon, the viceroy of Manaria, gave the farmer a hearty laugh as he pulled another draw on his own mug. "I was raised on this stuff. Fried all my tastebuds a long time ago."

Doran laughed, "I believe it! So, what crops do you ferment to brew this most excellent rotgut?"

"Threshed gora roots and aged tava beans. But don't tell anyone. It's a secret."

"Hah! I can grow them both for you."

Smeadon smiled. "I'm sure you will on the land I'm giving you. So tell me again about what is happening on New Athos?"

Doran leaned in, his breath vile. "Whelp, the Atlanteans are shacking up with us fer a bit. Storm evac-yoo-ay-shun."

Smeadon took the opportunity to shift his chair to avoid being gassed to death by Doran's foul breath. "A storm you say?"

"A-yep. Teyla Emmagan explained it to us, but I wasn't really paying much attention. I do remember she said that only a few of them were staying behind to ride it out."

"Only a few?"

"Yah." Doran made another huge burp as he laid the now empty mug down on the table. "Can I haf another one?"

"Certainly. Here, drink all you like."

"Tanks!" Doran started on his fourth mug.

"I must say, that is an interesting little gizmo that you have there. I assume that the Atlanteans gave that to you?"

"Huh?" Doran looked down dizzily at his IDC. "A-yeppers. Gotta have one. It's man-dah-tory."

"How interesting. Tell me more."

* * *

An hour later McKay was back to idly spinning his chair around again.

The Guardian stuck out her leg to stop the chair's rotation. In response McKay pushed her own chair off with his leg. Thanks to Newton's Third Law of Motion both chairs moved away from each other an equal distance.

He asked her, "Hey, wanna play Battle Chairs a bit? Take a break?"

She paddled her chair back to his. "No, I'm not in the mood."

McKay rubbed his face. "Well, let's keep at it then."

She stood and turned back to the imaging table. "I'm sorry, Rodney, but I'm completely out of ideas."

He offered her his thermos, "Want some brain juice?" It was a generous gesture; because of his hidden stash he was the last person on the base with any coffee beans left for brewing.

She tried to sound polite. "Uh, no thank you."

"You sure? You look tired too."

The last thing she wanted was to drink that atrocious black ichor. She made her excuses. "Caffeine is not good for me." Her excuse had the benefit of actually being true, as her already overdriven metabolism did not need a further boost.

He took another deep drink and succeeded in emptying the thermos. He stood next to her and they stared at imaging table together in silence.

"Power."

"Power," she chimed.

"The naquadah generators aren't nearly enough, and we don't have anything else."

"No."

It was beginning to look hopeless. She thought about the situation. The rapid evacuation was still going on, with many of the scientists behind them still packing up various instruments and bustling them out the door.

She would stay behind. She expected that McKay would insist on staying behind with her, waiting until the last possible moment, and probably Weir and Sheppard as well. No matter. She would make sure they were all in the gate room with her when the time came, then she would mentally dial the gate and pick them all up with her TK power and gently toss them through the the gate. After the gate shut off she would then close her eyes and send the detonation command.

The Guardian sat back down and put her head on the table. McKay thought she was taking a quick catnap.

She had only one regret.

Just then a new musical theme started. The Guardian quickly lifted her head up. She blinked her eyes and looked around trying to find the source.

It was McKay. She quickly stood.

"Rodney, what is it? What are you thinking?" She was tempted to reduce her limiter to be able to actually hear his thoughts, but he was always very touchy about that, and she had always been careful to honor his requests for privacy. She had kept saying it would be all right to share their thoughts, protesting that she would never reveal anything to anyone, but he always insisted.

"Maybe.."

The Guardian stood up behind him. "Maybe what?"

"Maybe we are looking at this whole thing backwards."

"Backwards?"

"We're looking at the wrong side of the power equation." He turned. "We've been focusing on the power input, right? What about the power consumption? Can we lower it somehow?"

"Lower it? How do you mean?"

He held her shoulders. "You know all about how the shield works, its theory of operation, yes?"

She nodded, "Of course I do, but I don't see how.."

"The shield is massive overkill, right?"

She again nodded. "Correct. It is designed to stop even the most powerful bombardment by a Wraith fleet from orbit."

"Holding back the ocean is easy in comparison."

"Yes, it is trivial. Oh, I see!" She pulled in closer, her eyes shining. "So you're saying reduce the ambient shield strength!"

"Yeah. What if we just dialed it back? Can we do that?"

The Guardian stepped back and thought hard. "The shield needs a large initial pulse of energy to ignite the force field. Once the field is established the shield generator uses buffers to regulate the power flow. Each of the shield emitters has one. When something impacts the shield, like, say, a Wraith plasma weapon, the shield system responds by pulling more power from the nearest buffer to feed into that particular emitter."

"It's a reactive system."

"Yes. Keeping out the ocean while submerged requires relatively little power compared to repelling a major Wraith attack. Once the field is established it becomes effectively rigid, so the compressive force of the water pressing on it from one side is counterbalanced by the equal amount of water pressing in on it from the opposite side. Newton's Third Law."

"The equistatic pressure balances everything out, cancels the forces out."

"Yes. The actual power drain on the ZPM is very minor compared to the draw during a Wraith bombardment. That was why the shield could keep out the ocean for 10,000 years, but it can block a Wraith attack for only 100 years."

Zelenka asked, "So we only need 1% power to block the storm? Not 100%"

McKay thought a moment, then shook his head. "No. There are two problems. First, the shield needs to be raised up, bootstrapped."

The Guardian agreed, "Ignition point. That requires much power, more than we have."

"Right. It takes full power for at least 3-4 seconds to light it up. We have nothing that can generate that level of power even for a few seconds. Second, the water pressure won't be equistatic. The storm surge will hit from one side and wash over the city laterally, creating a huge asymmetric force. There's nothing to counterbalance it on the other side. We'll need power for that too."

Zelenka asked, "For how long?"

The Guardian replied, "In the public database I reviewed some recorded moving images of surges from previous storms. They typically last about 12 to 16 seconds**."

McKay tapped his chin. "So we need to generate a truckload of power for at least that long."

Zelenka rubbed his hands together. "We can modify the shield's control program, adapt the energy buffers on the emitters to act like big capacitors. They can absorb the energy slowly from our naquadah generators and then discharge it quickly into the shield emitters."

McKay stared at Zelenka and said, "G, pinch me."

"What?"

"Zelenka actually said something helpful. I must be dreaming."

"Very funny." She gave Zelenka an approving look, "Thank you, Radek."

The Czech scientist beamed back at her in silent gratitude for finally receiving some recognition for his efforts.

McKay ignored the exchange and asked, "G, what are the specs on the shield capacitors? Their maximum power absorption and discharge rate?"

The Guardian brought up some pages from the public database on the table imager, then she copy-pasted the equations from them into another window and translated the mathematical notation. She dragged the translated equations into the simulation box and tapped the Run button.

McKay leaned over her shoulder to watch. "Hmm. Those numbers look impressive. But our naquadah generators still can't feed them fast enough to bootstrap up the field."

Zelenka said helpfully, "Still, this is good. We are making progress."

McKay snapped back, "Are we? Booting up the shield requires a huge amount of power, power that we still don't have. No ignition, no shield; no shield, no city. It puts us right back at square one."

The Guardian came to Zelenka's defense. "Rodney, the problem is simpler now. We just need a short-lived high-energy power source that can drive the shield to the point of ignition."

"Except you're forgetting the other problem that I just mentioned."

"Which is?"

"C'mon, G, pay attention." He pointed at the imaging table. "It's right here in your numbers, see? It's staring you right in the face. When that lateral wall of water hits it will drain the shield buffer in about 7 seconds. You just said it takes 12 to 16 seconds for a surge to pass through, right? So the way things are now the shield will collapse just as it works its way around the central complex. Shoving that much water aside will push up the surge even higher than it was originally, and when the shield collapses it will come crashing down right on our heads in the city's most vulnerable spot. It will cause even more damage than if we didn't have a shield at all!"

"Oh."

"Sheesh, how could you miss that, G?"

"Rodney, I.."

"I'm surprised at you, missing something so basic."

She shrank back from him as if she had been slapped. "I'm.. I'm sorry.."

Zelenka said softly, "McKay, you shouldn't be so hard on her."

"Radek, this isn't some abstract academic exercise. We screw this up and we're dead. I won't apologize."

The Guardian regained her confidence. "Rodney, you are quite correct in your admonishment of me."

She pointed at the number on the imaging table. "The buffers are good for only 7 seconds. The naquadah generators can't keep pumping power fast enough to maintain the shield for the remaining required 5 to 9 seconds for the wave to pass. The plan won't work."

McKay groused, "Back to square one again. Great."

Zelenka muttered, "Tidal waves, tornadoes, lightning.. it's like the wrath of God. All we need now are locusts."

McKay scratched his armpit. "Tornadoes and lightning, sheesh, I forgot about those. Lightning storms used to scare the crap out of me as a kid. I always thought I was going to be hit."

The Guardian said gently, "Rodney, I can assure you that you will be quite safe from lightning in my city. Do you remember during our times when we watched the clouds? All those lightning rods on the rooftop?"

Zelenka looked at both of them with some incredulity. "You watch clouds?" He had a hard time believing that either of them would do something so frivolous.

McKay was about tell Zelenka to mind his own business when he suddenly froze.

"G, I apologize for everything I ever said to you."

"Rodney..?"

"Tell me quick, how do those lightning rods route the strikes?"

"They are routed to grounding stations that discharge the electricity into the ocean."

"Grounding stations? How many?"

"Four, I think."

"You sure?"

"I'll need to verify it, but I think it's four. Why?"

He grinned, "This whole city is made of naquadah, which is electrically conductive.."

He saw the surprised expression on her face. She said, "You think you can route the lightning strikes into the energy buffers?"

"Why not? We're sitting on a huge structure floating on a big flat ocean, made almost entirely out of metal, tall and pointy; it's one giant lightning target."

Zelenka mused, "After passing over land the storm will be highly charged with electricity. The lightning strikes should be almost continuous."

McKay was practically jumping into the air. "It could drive the shield practically non-stop!"

The Guardian tried to speak up, "But.."

McKay started to furiously work the numbers on the imaging table."The power equations work! It should be more than enough!"

"Rodney, wait.."

McKay turned to Zelenka. "Start writing it up for Weir. G, help me pull up the specs on those grounding stations, find out how to decouple them."

The Guardian was exasperated. "Rodney! Just stop!"

"What is it?"

"It's a shield, you idiot!"

"So?"

"It blocks and deflects away all weapon strikes, including plasma fire, laser beams, all energy based weapons, chemical and nuclear explosions, meteor impacts, everything, even electric-discharge weapons! That is what the shield does!"

"Oh yeah.."

"Rodney, you should know better. As soon as the shield ignites it will block the lightning strikes from reaching the lighting rods. Seven seconds later the buffers will run out and the shield will collapse. Your idea is not sustainable."

Zelenka asked, "Then why have lightning rods in the first place?"

McKay sighed, "Because running the shield all the time just wastes power. Gah! I can't believe that I.."

The Guardian finished it for him, ".. missed something so basic?"

Rodney cursed himself. He turned around so that his back was facing her. "G, I want you to kick me. Right here." He pointed at his rear end.

She chided him gently, "Maybe later. I guess we're even now?"

"Yeah. Gawd, that was dumb." He covered his face with his hand, still facing away from her. "I must be really tired..."

"You see the problem. The shield deflects all energy impacts, discharges them into the surrounding water. The shield will ignite and the lightning strikes will be blocked."

She approached and gently touched his shoulder from behind. "You had the right idea, Rodney, except for that one little problem.."

"You call that little? G, are you sure you don't want to kick me?"

"Just stop it. We're so close now. You had mentioned reducing the energy requirement?"

"Oh, right. I was going to ask you if there was a way to dial down the shield strength."

"No, it's constant. It ignites and then maintains a steady force level that is fixed. It can withstand a compressive pressure on it measured in gigatons."

"Which is complete overkill for our needs."

"The shield is reactive. For dynamic forces it will initially overcompensate until the opposing force stabilizes. A wall of water passing over the shield will trigger the effect as the wave washes over each sector, pulling considerable power from each shield emitter over the entire 12 to 16 seconds"

"Too much power. We can't lower the draw?"

"No. The emitters cannot be individually adjusted. The design is simple and redundant. If a shield emitter fails or is damaged, the adjacent emitters will simply compensate for it. The shield will weaken in that sector, but not enough to significantly change the overall power requirement."

McKay was thinking. "How many emitters can you lose before the whole thing fails?"

"The shield will sustain itself as long as you don't lose two adjacent emitters."

"Okay. So what if we turned off all the odd numbered emitters, leaving only the even ones turned on?"

"Hmm. I suppose it would effectively reduce the maximum repulsive force by half. Oh, the steady-state power requirement too! It might even be enough before it blocks the lightning strikes!"

Rodney grinned. "You're faster than me, you run it."

The Guardian swiftly updated the input parameters on the imaging table, removing half the emitters. The net energy number skittered upward erratically, then it stabilized at a low positive number. The word 'PASS' appeared in green letters underneath.

Zelenka yelled, "Jo!" The Guardian jumped and shouted "Ita!"

She whirled and hugged McKay. He was stunned as he tried to awkwardly return her embrace.

She realized what she was doing and pulled back, floundering a bit. "I'm sorry. I'm not very good at expressing my emotions properly.."

He shrugged it off. "It's okay, G."

She again beamed at him. "Rodney, you did it." Then she added, "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Huh? Naw. Let's go find Weir."

* * *

Weir and Sheppard were standing in the gate control room near a wall-mounted display panel next to McKay and the Guardian. Zelenka had earlier gone off with the last of the remaining Expedition staff, leaving only the foursome and two security guards behind. The rain was now pouring hard outside, and the wind was rapidly picking up. Weir said quickly, "Okay, let's hear it."

McKay rapidly ran the simulation on the panel. "The plan works like this: We modify the shield defense program to deactivate the odd numbered shield emitters, then we re-route the power from their buffers to feed into the even numbered emitters, two buffers for each emitter. We let the lightning strikes from the storm hit the lightning rods, which we will first decouple from their grounding stations, and use the hallways of the city to route the energy discharges into the buffers. Two buffers on each emitter is enough to drive the shield for at least 14 seconds which should be long enough for the city to survive the passing of a major storm surge given the recordings in the database. Well, most of one, anyway."

Sheppard noted the disclaimer. "'Most of one'?"

McKay explained, "In the vids from previous storms a few really big waves took up to 16 seconds to traverse the city. The shield might collapse prematurely before a wave that big passes, possibly causing some damage to one of the leeward piers. There is not much we can do about that."

Weir watched the simulation on the display. "Still, this looks very good. What do you think the odds are that this will actually work?"

McKay said confidently, "Oh, 90 percent, easily."

Sheppard asked, "Genie, what are your odds?"

She shrugged, "I have absolutely no idea."

Sheppard said encouragingly, "C'mon, Genie, you know this city like the back of your hand. Take a guess."

"John, we have not even figured out how to modify the shield program yet. No one has ever done anything like Rodney's odd-even buffer adjustment, much less route lightning strikes through the city like this. The chance of success is unquantifiable."

McKay checked the wall clock. "And we're out of time."

Weir asked, "So what do we do then?"

McKay highlighted four spots on the city map. "These four grounding stations need to be decoupled as soon as possible. Elizabeth, you still have the bad knee so you take this nearest one. Sheppard, you take the second closest one, here. G, you get the far two on the Southwest and South piers. There's no working transporters in those sectors. You think you can run a two minute mile?"

"No problem." She raised her hood. "I'll be back before John. It's already raining pretty hard so we should get moving."

McKay sat at a console and started typing. "I'll begin work on modifying the shield program. You guys go. I'll radio you the instructions on how to decouple the stations on the way."

* * *

Private Schmidt and Sergeant McPherson were standing guard at the gate. They were bored.

McPherson said one word. "Bacon."

Schmidt agreed, "Definitely bacon."

"Makes everything taste better."

"Yeah."

"Why didn't we bring any?"

"Priorities I guess."

"How can bacon not be a priority?"

 _"This is Weir. Grounding station 1 is decoupled. I'm returning to the gate room."_

McKay was working at his console on the upper level of the gate room. "Good job, Elizabeth. Take the transporter and you'll be back in a jiffy. Sheppard, you done yet?"

 _"Just about."_

"G?"

" _Done with number 3, rounding the core to head for number 4."_

"You're not gonna jump between the piers?"

 _"In this storm? No."_

"In that case you think you have another two-minute mile in you?"

 _"Easily, but I'm going to be pretty hungry afterward."_

Weir walked up. McKay grinned as he typed, "Sheppard has the last two bags of microwave popcorn hidden under the couch in the movie room. Grab them on the way back and eat all you want."

 _"Thank you John!"_

 _"McKay, that was supposed to be our secret."_

"Was it? Oops, heh."

 _"Dang it, no more movie nights for you."_

Suddenly the gate started to activate.

McKay looked up, "What the..?"

Weir asked, "What is it?"

The gate connected. McKay said, "It's Manaria. We're getting an Athosian IDC."

A radio transmission crackled, _"We are under attack by the Wraith! Please help us!"_

McKay asked Weir, "Manaria?"

"A few Athosians settled there two weeks ago." Weir spoke into the microphone. "How many are in your group and what is your status?"

 _"About a dozen, some seriously wounded. Please hurry!"_

McKay wondered, "Why are they coming here? Weren't they notified?"

"Hmm, good question." She pressed the microphone button. "We aren't able to receive you now. Please disconnect and dial New Athos."

 _"There's no time! They're almost here! Please!"_

McKay turned. "What do we do?"

Weir sighed, "All right, let them in, then immediately dial out to New Athos as soon as they clear the gate area."

"Right." McKay lowered the shield. The two security guards took their positions.

A small canister rolled into the gate room. McPherson yelled, "Grenade!" as the flash-bang exploded, temporarily blinding and stunning the guards. McKay and Weir instinctively shielded their eyes. Then two more smoking devices rolled in.

What followed was next was a confused blur of smoke, light, and sound. McKay pulled Weir down as they huddled behind the console to avoid the rat-tat-tat of machine gun fire. There were flashes of light and sound seemingly everywhere.

Weir hit her radio mic. "We're under fire up here!"

* * *

 _"We're under fire up here!"_

The Guardian skidded to a stop. She saw that the fourth grounding station was only a few meters ahead. She whirled back and was able to dimly see the central tower in the distance through the pouring sheets of rain, her keen eyes just barely making out the faint flashes of light coming from the window of the gate room.

The grounding station was so close...

She cursed and turned back, running faster and faster.

* * *

Sheppard hit his mic. "Elizabeth! What's happening?"

Either Weir or McKay still had their radio on, because Sheppard could faintly hear some voices shouting in the background.

 _"Clear." "Clear here." "Not here." "Eyes on target! Don't bunch up!"_

* * *

The Guardian had started running back from the far edge of the Southwest Pier, which was about as far away from the gate room as anyone could get and still be within the city. As she ran she approached the two squat towers that spanned the pier, blocking her progress, and she knew that she would have to either climb in to them or go under them to get past. The towers were filled with debris and obstacles from previous floods, and she knew it would take several precious seconds to traverse them.

As she ran she turned to glance at the South Pier that was now to her right. There she saw a spur that reduced the gap between the piers at that point down to only 80 meters. Normally it was a jump that she could have made easily using her biopacks, but she knew that the storm would make it risky now. She made a mental calculation and decided to take the jump anyway, skidding to a stop, then quickly taking ten steps back as she revved her biopacks up to maximum. She ran right up to the water's edge and yelled "Hiyaaah!" as she made the jump.

Near the apex of her arc the shifting winds caught her cloak and pushed her sideways. She could tell from her new trajectory that she was going to miss the spur and land in the water. She quickly drew a surge of bioenergy and applied a combination of strong TK and inertial dampening to force herself back on course. As she did so, she could feel the burning heat from her biopacks as they furiously pumped out her precious remaining energy reserves.

Time seemed to slow down for her as she began her long descent. A memory came to her unbidden, where she remembered how McKay had joked about her being Supergirl, and how she had looked it up and found the comic book image of the blond girl wearing blue tights, a red cape, and red boots, and how she had become upset with him, stating that the image was completely absurd, and how she had patiently explained to him that she could not fly, did not shoot heat-rays from her eyes, did not have X-ray vision, was far from indestructible, and did not suffer a crippling vulnerability to Kryptonite. He was disappointed that she couldn't actually fly, so she helpfully explained to him how in an emergency situation that she could crank up her biopacks and use a combination of large leaps, self-applied telekinesis, and inertial control to modulate her momentum in order to mimic some semblance of flight over relatively short distances. She then remembered how he laughed and said that she was just like Buzz Lightyear. She had looked it up and gave him a dirty look before walking out on him in a huff.

She made a grim smile as she saw the spur approach, because she now realized that McKay's joking remark was true.

She was doing it.

She was falling with style.

* * *

Weir stood up and yelled, "Who the hell are you people?"

A soldier with a pock-marked face wearing a drab olive uniform walked quickly up the stairs, his pistol drawn and ready. He was looking around rapidly in all directions. "Where is it?"

"No, you answer my question first."

The soldier levelled his pistol at her. "You are in no position to make demands, Doctor Weir. Where is that white witch?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Your golem. It has to be here." His eyes roamed the room. As he did so he saw a group of his men standing in front of the gate. He yelled at them, "I said don't bunch up! You're just giving it a bigger target!" His men began to spread out again.

He called down the steps to the men who were still near the gate, "Hide those bodies in the room up here." He pointed at Weir's office.

Weir yelled, "Those Marines need medical attention!"

The soldier turned and said placidly, "I assure you they are quite dead, Doctor Weir."

McKay finally spoke. "You.. you killed them.."

The soldier shifted his gun to him. "You must be Doctor Rodney McKay. I will ask you both only one more time, where is it?"

"T-the Guardian? She's on New Athos, standing watch in case any Wraith show up."

He cocked his pistol. "Wrong answer."

Weir intervened to protect McKay, "Obviously the Guardian is not here. Otherwise we would not be having this conversation right now."

Kolya looked at her as he considered her remark.

She crossed her arms. "If she was here, you'd already be dead."

"Hmm." He uncocked his pistol. "That was stupid of you, failing to guard your main operational center with your primary weapon." He continued to look around the room. "Where is Major John Sheppard?"

Weir replied levelly, "He is also on New Athos, assisting with the evacuation."

"Is he now?"

"Yes. Obviously he is not here either. If he was, you'd be busy dodging bullets right now."

Kolya holstered his gun. He groused, "You people are idiots."

One of Kolya's men was already seated at a nearby control console. Kolya turned and asked him, "Do you have the city schematic up yet?"

Ladon Radim nodded. "Yes sir." Kolya stood behind him and watched as he pointed. "We are here in the central tower, the weapon armory is below us here, and the medical center is here."

"And the flying ships?"

Ladon Radim pointed straight up. "The main hangar is right above us."

"Good." Kolya yelled down at his men, "You and you go to the armory, you and you to the medical center. You climb that ladder and give me a count on their ships." Radim picked up a walkie-talkie and began giving directions while Kolya turned back to study the schematic. The two remaining soldiers stood nearby holding machine guns while looking around the room with obvious nervousness.

Meanwhile McKay quietly moved next to Weir, and without turning his head he pushed some buttons on another console. Another schematic of the city appeared, this one showing life signs on it. He glanced down briefly, then he whispered to Weir, "G is really moving. She'll be here in seconds."

Kolya looked up and drew out his pistol again. "Doctor McKay, please step away from that console."

He did. Kolya quickly walked over and checked the display. "Radim, come here."

The second soldier scooted his rolling chair over and inspected the screen. "These have to be life signs." He pointed. "We're here, the men going for the supplies are here and here. Hmm, there are two other targets."

"I see them." Kolya pointed his finger at the second dot that was rapidly heading in their direction. "What is that?"

Radim looked at it. "Must be a flying ship."

Kolya stood back. "No, it's the primary."

"Sir, nobody can move that fast."

He yelled, "Everyone, get down!"

Behind the gate there was a huge crash of shattered glass. Then a blur. Suddenly a figure materialized right in front of them, seeming out of thin air. The machine guns and pistols flew out of the hands of the soldiers and clattered on the floor.

A woman drenched in rainwater and wearing a white hood stood before them, fists clenched, feet apart, eyes flaring.

She spoke with barely contained anger, "How dare you."

McKay yelled, "They shot McPherson and Schmidt!"

The Guardian's eyes shifted. "Where?"

McKay glanced over at Weir's office.

Her eyes scanned her opponents, then she turned and in two leaps she was inside Weir's office. She knelt and checked the bodies, but she could already see it was too late for her to do anything for them. In two bounds she was back out again.

She saw Kolya. "You are the leader." Kolya stood his ground as she addressed him directly. She growled in a low voice, "Not once. Not once has anyone ever dared to cross that portal in anger. No Wraith, no mortal, no one. Not one single time, not once in ten millennia. And now, you, you pathetic wretches, you come marching in here with your gas projectile weapons, and you.. you DARE to enter and defile this place!"

She started walking towards Kolya. "I might have spared your lives if you did not kill those innocent men, men who were under my personal protection. Your life is now forfeit. In fact, death is too good for you.."

Kolya read from a small piece of paper that he had previously palmed in his left hand.

" _Domina doraitus parere._ "

The Guardian froze in mid-stride.

Kolya lowered the piece of paper and studied her. She remained perfectly still like a store-window mannequin. He snapped his fingers in front of her unblinking and unseeing eyes.

"Hmm. So that's what it does."

McKay tried go to the Guardian but a soldier held him back. "What did you do to her?"

Kolya started to fold up the piece of paper. "I was hoping this was a Control Word. Failing that, I assumed it was a Termination Command. It's just paralysis. Oh well."

He made a motion and two soldiers pulled McKay and Weir off to the side.

Koyla then bent over and picked up one of the machine guns that was lying on the floor. "An asset that I cannot control is of no use to me, so.." He pulled back the latch, pointed the machine gun at the Guardian, and fired, emptying the entire clip into her torso. Her body pitched backward and careened to the floor, falling behind one of the consoles.

McKay yelled, "NO!" He forcibly wrested himself from the grasp of one of the soldiers and ran to her side. Kolya ignored McKay as he handed off the still-hot machine gun to one of his subordinates. He then leaned down to confer privately with Landon, who had resumed his work at one of the other data stations.

Meanwhile, McKay rushed down to where the Guardian's body had fallen behind the console. He turned her body over and checked her vulnerable and exposed torso where the heavy cloak had failed to protect her. He saw that the thin white garment she was wearing was heavily dented with several circular depressions, some deep, but he did not see any visible rips or tears in the fabric. Still, the damage of the high speed bullet impacts to her mid-section had to be severe, and he knew that she must have suffered some serious injuries to her internal organs.

He rolled her to the side to detach the cloak from around her shoulders. He then rolled her on her back and covered her body with it like a sheet, hoping no one had yet noticed the lack of holes or blood. He couldn't tell if she was breathing or not.

He took a deep breath, then he quickly stood up from behind the console.

He turned and faced Kolya, "You goddamn bastard! You killed her!"

His reaction was not entirely an act. He wasn't sure if she was even alive.

Kolya was still bent over a console while conferring with his second officer. He stood up. "'Her'? Doctor McKay, that is a machine."

"She's not a machine you monster!"

"That thing is a programmed weapon. It is a pity. It would have been of great service to the Genii."

Weir stepped forward. "You just murdered our best hope of stopping the Wraith."

"Murdered? Tell me, Doctor Weir, what have you done with this ancient weapon? How many cullings have you stopped with it? How many Wraith ships have you attacked? Have you done anything to stop them? I already know the answer. The answer is no. You have done nothing except sit on your asses in your magical city, all safe and sound with your protective Guardian, doing nothing about the Wraith as you watched while the heavens above you burn."

He took a step towards her, his voice low. "Doctor Weir, unlike you, we fight. We will take the fight to the enemy. We have accelerated our nuclear weapons program. We will take your flying ships, and we will arm them with our nuclear weapons, and we will fly them into the hive ships. We will take your supplies of medicines and C4 explosives, supplies that are vitally needed for the war effort - supplies that you refused to share with us."

"That's because you betrayed us, tried to capture my people, hold them hostage."

"Because you refused to help. You wouldn't even agree to do a joint reconnaissance mission with us to board a hive ship with one of your invisible flying ships to gather intelligence."

"We already explained that to Cowen. It wasn't necessary. We told him that our Guardian has already raided Wraith hive ships, innumerable times in fact. She could have told you anything you needed to know about those ships! Look, you want to stop the Wraith? So do we. And we're your best hope of doing that. So turn around and leave now, before anyone else gets hurt, and maybe we'll find a way for us to work together some day."

"Work together with you? Why? Your people caused this. You came to this galaxy. You woke up the Wraith. They are now culling worlds everywhere at a rate never seen in history. So no, Doctor Weir, we will not be working together."

Kolya turned and addressed one of his men. "Take that thing and put it with the other two bodies."

McKay yelled, "Don't you touch her!"

Kolya turned back and made a small smile. "You are a sentimentalist. Very well, you may take it.. her? to the other room. I will give you two minutes of privacy with your precious Guardian to say whatever words will give you comfort. Then come back here or I'll have you dragged out."

A walkie-talkie on Kolya's belt crackled. _"Sir, the armory is empty."_

Kolya lifted it and pressed a button. "Say again."

McKay proceeded to drag away the Guardian's body, being careful to keep her covered. Nobody was paying attention to him.

 _"It's been cleaned out. Nothing is here."_

Another crackle. _"The medical center has been stripped. Some boxes of bandages and blankets were left behind. No medicines or vaccines."_

A third soldier walked up, somewhat out of breath. "The hanger above us is empty. I counted 12 bays, all unoccupied."

Kolya turned and glared at Weir. "What is the meaning of this?"

Weir gave him a mock innocent look. "Hmm?"

* * *

McKay pulled the Guardian's body past the two dead soldiers, carefully positioning it behind Weir's desk so that only her white boots were visible from outside the office's windows.

He kneeled and pulled back the cloak/shroud from her face. Her eyes were still wide open, her pupils fixed and dilated, staring at nothing.

"G, you in there?" He put his ear next to her nose and mouth. "Oh thank god you're alive." She was barely breathing.

He kneeled next to her. "C'mon, G, snap out of it. Please wake up. Please.."

He gently shook her shoulder. "C'mon, wake up. Can you hear me? I really need a sign. Anything."

He had an idea. He gently pulled off her U-shaped tiara.

{ ..NEY TAKE IT OFF! RODNEY TAKE IT OFF! }

He winced. "Ow! Geez, you don't have to shout so loud."

{ Oh praise the Maker. Rodney, what's happening? I can't move! }

"The Genii raided us. The head guy said some magic words and you just froze."

{ I did? Is everyone else all right? }

"McPherson and Schmidt are dead. Weir and I are hostages. Sheppard is still out there. I'm sure he heard it on his headset."

{ John is a good soldier. Follow his lead. }

"Right."

{ Rodney, I can feel my corneas drying out. Can you please close my eyes for me? }

He placed a hand over her face and gently lowered her eyelids. With her eyes closed she looked dead. It gave him chills.

McKay sensed something. "You're in pain."

{ It's nothing; I'm fine. }

"You're a rotten liar. I can tell you're really hurting."

{ How badly am I injured? }

"They riddled you with bullets. No holes, but it looks like a hailstorm across your front. It looks pretty bad."

{ My liver feels like paste. I think there's internal bleeding too. I can't heal anything yet. }

"How long will this paralysis last?"

{ I don't know! I didn't know anyone could do that to me! }

"Okay, okay, just stop shouting. Uh, I got most of your body hidden behind Weir's desk. If you start to come out of it, don't wiggle your feet. If they see you moving even a tiny bit they'll put a bullet in your head."

{ All right. Rodney, when I come out of this, you need to know that I already burned up a lot of energy getting here. After I stop the internal bleeding I can try to help you.. }

"No, no, no. You're all busted up, and you need to heal. Concentrate on that. Let Sheppard and me handle it."

{ I didn't reach the fourth grounding station. I'm sorry. }

"I know. It's okay. You did your best."

{ Rodney, you also need to write that power-routing subroutine for the shield program. I was going to help you complete it. }

"I'm on it. You just try to heal yourself."

{ I feel so useless. }

"It's okay." He kissed her cheek. "Just stay still."

{ Uhm, Rodney? }

"Yeah?"

{ Do you remember what I said to you? In the conference room? }

"Of course."

{ About that.. }

A Genii soldier entered the office. "You! The Commander wants to see you."

McKay stood up from behind the desk. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Keep your pants on."

{ Be careful. }

* * *

The soldier pulled McKay over to Kolya. McKay tried to look annoyed. "Yeah, what do you want?"

Kolya turned to address him. "Doctor Weir is not being cooperative. I am hoping that you will be more compliant."

"Who, me? I don't know anything. I'm just a scientist."

"You are a senior member of this expedition. Tell me, why are all the supplies missing? How did you know we were coming?"

McKay ignored him and addressed Weir. "Elizabeth, I think we should just tell Commander Numnutz here what's going on. I need to start working on that shield program."

Weir turned to Kolya. "I want your assurance first that Major Sheppard won't be harmed."

"That depends on what you have to offer me, Doctor Weir."

"Elizabeth, we need to hurry. Sheppard needs to get to that last station."

Kolya asked, "What is going on here? Why all the urgency?"

McKay lost it. He stabbed a finger at the smashed glass behind the gate where the howling wind was driving in sheets of rain through it. "Look out the window, you moron! This city is going to sink!"

* * *

{ Rodney, can you hear me? I got my eyes working now but I still can't see anything under this blanket. What's going on? }

McKay looked up from the console with a startled expression. Ladon Radim was standing over him observing his work at the computer station. "Something the matter, Doctor?"

"Uh, no, everything is fine. Peachy keen." McKay looked back down at the keyboard. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

{ Hello? }

{ Good, Rodney. I hear you. It's faint. What's happening? }

{ Sheppard decoupled the last grounding station. He killed some of Mr. Numnutz's men and they're both pretty pissed at each other, a Mexican Standoff. He disabled the power to the sensors so they can't track him. }

{ Is John okay? }

{ I'm sure he'll be fine. Look, I'm kind of stuck on how to program this odd/even buffer interleave. I have the odd numbered shield emitters already turned off, and I tried cross-connecting the odd buffers to the even ones, but it's not working. }

{ That's because the buffers alternate, with the even ones having their power outputs running clockwise around the shield perimeter while the odd ones go counterclockwise. The power inputs run conversely on the opposite sides. }

{ Sheesh, I should have checked for that. Working on it. }

{ You're doing great, Rodney. I have faith in you. }

* * *

Kolya yelled over the howling wind, "McKay! I thought you said this was going to work!"

McKay was completely fed up with him. "Look, Commander Numnutz, I don't know if you noticed it or not yet but I am an extremely arrogant man who thinks all his plans will work!"

Kolya decked him. He turned to address Ladon, who was still busy looking at a display monitor on the wall. "Radim, report!"

"It's coming. It's huge. Two minutes."

"Dial the gate. Everyone out!" Kolya grabbed Weir by the neck. "You're coming with me, a small payment for your debt to us." He pointed at one of his few remaining soldiers. "You, bring Doctor McKay."

Weir struggled, "Let me go!"

Ladon peered through the empty gate portal and looked out past the broken window behind it. He was completely stunned as he watched a wall of water approach the city that was well over 100 meters high, and building even higher. He quickly dialed the gate.

At that moment Sheppard barged in with a P90, one that he had earlier salvaged from the practice shooting range out on the North Pier. The soldier who was moving to fetch McKay had spotted him and the two exchanged automatic weapons fire. Meanwhile, Ladon dived through the gate. Sheppard finally hit the solider in the shoulder as his only clip emptied out. He dropped the P90 and drew out his personal pistol as he saw Kolya head towards the gate holding Weir in front of him with his own pistol on her.

As Kolya backed towards the open gate he said, "Sheppard, stay back. I know you won't risk hurting her."

Sheppard kept pointing his gun. "Who says I'm aiming at her?" Sheppard then did exactly what he was trained to do in exactly this kind of situation, the standard operational technique that was universally drilled into every sharpshooter by every military the world over, the one and only guaranteed way to render a hostage taker ineffective who was using a human shield:

Shoot the central nervous system.

Kolya's head snapped back as his body fell into the open gate.

Sheppard rushed up to Weir. "You okay?"

"N-No. Not really."

"You will be. Sorry for the mess."

McKay yelled from his console, "I got it! It's charging!"

Sheppard ran to the open window. Lighting was striking everywhere in the city as the wall of watery death loomed up. "McKay, do it now!"

"It hasn't reached ignition yet!"

"Do it! Do it!"

Suddenly the shield rose, arcing majestically overhead as megatons of water washed into it. McKay thought he saw the shield actually deform and bend slightly under the onslaught of churning water, but it might have been his imagination.

He began doing a mental count as the gargantuan wave rolled past each of the even numbered shield sectors, with each sector surging with power as it drew upon its respective buffer pair.

 _One thousand nine, one thousand ten, one thousand eleven.._

At that point he saw the towering wall of water flow across the lateral bisection of the city. 11 seconds, halfway.

That meant 22 seconds total.

The buffers were spec'ed at 14 seconds.

Not enough.

* * *

 _The next day_

"G, good, you're awake."

"Rodney..?"

"You know, we've got to stop meeting like this."

McKay and the Guardian were both in the now-restocked infirmary. An IV glucose line was in a vein in the Guardian's left arm.

The Guardian rubbed her eyes and asked, "How bad was it?"

McKay crossed his arms as he stood next to her cot. "Your specs were off."

"They were? I'm sorry.."

"The buffers held for 23 seconds."

"Really?"

"Yeah. The Ancient engineers overbuilt it, went way beyond the published specs."

"I see. Well, the shield has always been very important to us, so I suppose it's not surprising if they went a bit overboard during its actual construction."

"Lucky for us they weren't exaggerating for once. So how are you feeling?"

"Much better. I lost a lot of blood but I think I'm okay now."

"Good. I'll take you to the mess hall as soon as Beckett springs you." He chuckled, "I bet you're hungry as a horse."

The Guardian looked confused. "A horse? What is that?"

"Huh? You don't know what a horse is?"

"I never heard of it. Is that a creature of some kind?"

"Oh c'mon, we're in the Pegasus Galaxy for crying out loud. Pegasus literally means 'horse'. This is the fargin' Horse Galaxy. You have to know what a horse is."

The Guardian gave him a sardonic look as she lifted her arm in front of her with the IV still inserted in it. She opened up her imaging disk. It whirred and stopped on an image.

Her eyes boggled. "What is that!?***"

McKay leaned over and looked. "A horse."

"It's.. it's magnificent!"

* * *

The Guardian and Teyla were seated together at a four-person table in the mess hall. They were both looking at the Guardian's wrist imager as they excitedly watched a sequence of pictures of various equestrians that were in the Atlantis Expedition's database from Earth.

McKay and Sheppard were seated across from them eating their tasteless tava bean soup as they quietly watched the two women look excitedly at pictures of horses.

Teyla pointed. "Oh! Stop! What is that one?"

"They call that an Arabian."

"It is so beautiful!"

"I know! Now look at this one. See the human next to it for scale?"

"That is huge!"

"They call that a Clydesdale."

"Incredible. You say that these creatures are all tame?"

The Guardian said excitedly, "Oh yes. They are strong, docile, have great stamina, and are very intelligent. Nothing like a Mastadge."

The Mastadge was the universal beast of burden in the Pegasus Galaxy. It was similar to a semi-untamed hairy camel: smelly, slow, ugly, and it liked to bite.

The Guardian explained, "Not only can they plow a field far better than a Mastadge, they can be ridden great distances as well."

Teyla asked, "Ridden?"

"Yes, see this photograph? The rider on top?"

"Oh!"

"The human societies at level 2 even used them in large numbers as ridden warbeasts, calling them 'cavalry'."

Teyla shook her head. "I cannot dream of abusing such a beautiful animal like that. I so wish I had one. I would groom it, talk to it, ride it every day.."

Sheppard held his head propped up in his hands as he watched the two women continue to gush over various photos of stallions, mares, colts, and fillies.

"McKay, tell me, what is it with girls and horses?"

McKay had his own head propped up.

"I have absolutely no idea."

* * *

Elizabeth Weir was busy talking with Grodin in the gate room when the Guardian excitedly ran up to her.

"Doctor Weir! Doctor Weir!"

Weir looked up and saw that the Guardian was pulling a man along behind her by the wrist. The man was tall and lanky, and he was wearing an Atlantis bomber jacket with blue vertical bands that indicated that he was a scientist. The man had a bemused look on his face because of his apparent kidnapping by the Guardian.

"Yes, Genie? What is it?"

"Doctor Weir, this is Doctor Parrish. He is a botanist and an agriculture specialist."

"I know who Doctor Parrish is."

"He told me something absolutely amazing!"

"Did he now?"

"Yes! He just told me how your people on Earth performed an absolute miracle."

"A miracle?"

"Oh yes, how you managed to feed seven billion people on a single world with surplus food left over. That is a feat that far surpasses anything my people have ever done in all of recorded history."

"Is it?"

Doctor Parrish helpfully explained, "She asked me about the types of food crops that we grow on Earth. I told her about the Green Revolution: Norman Borlaug and his creation of high-yield varieties [HYVs] of cereal grains, semi-dwarf rice [IR8], modern soybeans and corn.."

"Doctor Weir, the Green Revolution saved billions. Your food crops on Earth are a true miracle."

"Oh, I guess I can see why you would think of them that way. I admit I never really thought of our crops like that."

"Doctor Weir, I don't understand something. Norman Borlaug and his Green Revolution have saved countless lives on your world, literally billions of them, more than any other human being had saved in all of your world's history combined, and more than the death tolls of all your recorded wars combined. So tell me, why is it that I cannot find any statues of him in your database? No great monuments? No museums? I found many tributes to your war leaders, to Roman emperors, to American presidents, but nothing honoring him. Why is that?"

Weir shrugged, "I really don't know."

Parrish spoke up, "I have to agree with her. Norman Borlaug's work in the 1960s and 1970s in India, Brazil, Mexico, Africa, and elsewhere, his Green Revolution, really did save Earth from mass starvation. Hardly anyone appreciates just how significant his work actually was."

Sheppard walked into the gate room and saw the commotion on the main floor. He decided to join the group. "Hey, what's up?"

"John! Look at this!" The Guardian's imager brought up a picture of a plant with a green husk that was about fifteen centimeters long. The husk was peeled back to reveal rows of hundreds and hundreds of small yellow nodules that were attached in several neat and straight rows along a central shaft of cellulose.

"I see. Corn. Very nice."

"Look how big it is! And it grows incredibly fast. It thrives in a temperate climate with minimal tending and only moderate watering. It's packed with carbohydrates, and it can be dried for long term storage.."

".. and it is great for making popcorn."

"We need to get some!"

"I know. We really need some more for movie nights."

"No, no, no, no. I mean we need the seeds for this amazing crop, as much as we can get, for distribution and planting."

"Oh?"

"Yes! We need to distribute the seeds for these miracle crops to as many worlds as possible. Don't you understand? Over ninety percent of the human population in the Pegasus Galaxy live as hunter/gatherers or subsistence farmers, with hardly any food surplus. Even advanced worlds like New Athos depend upon hunting and fishing to supplant protein needs. Look at this!" Her imager whirled. "Soybeans! They are loaded with protein!"

Weir tried to calm down the excitable girl. "Okay, okay. Great, wonderful. Thank you for the Ag lesson. Say, why don't you draw up a list? McKay has an idea for sending a message back to Earth. We can include your Ag list on it."

"Oh, I will, I will! Parrish, come with me!" She dragged away the botanist while Weir and Sheppard looked on with bemused expressions on their faces.

Sheppard turned to Weir and said wryly, "Don't tell her about bacon. Her head will probably explode."

* * *

Laura Cadman and one of her posse, a Marine named Mary, were standing in line together in the mess hall holding their empty lunch trays while waiting their turn to reach the serving station. They saw McKay and the Guardian ahead of them holding their own trays.

They were having a heated discussion about the Van der Waals force.

"Rodney, it's more evidence."

"Oh come on, G."

"It's another example of a deliberate design hack. An obvious one."

"Aw, it's just an epiphenomenon.."

"Rodney, I know handwaving when I see it, and your world's physics papers on the Van der Waals force are all like that. There is no proper working mathematical model for it using the basic principles of the Standard Model. Nobody on your world knows how it works. That's because it is a hack, a kludge, a necessary one."

"A necessary one?"

"Yes, one that makes ice float and proteins fold right."

"You make it sound like a mistake.."

"No, no, when I say 'kludge' or 'hack' I don't mean a mistake or a design error, but rather a special modification to the rules of physics, a necessary one, to make everything work right."

"For what?"

"For life, silly. To make ice float and make proteins fold right it is essential.."

The pair walked away to a table while they continued to bicker and argue about quantum physics.

Mary said quietly to Cadman, "Sheesh, look at them, they're joined at the hip."

Cadman looked on. She saw the pair sit at an isolated table as they continued their argument.

"Yeah, they are."

"Do you think they know?"

"Naw, they're both space cadets. Him especially."

"Everybody else on the base already knows.."

Cadman sighed, "They're both flying on the USS Clueless."

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that Joanie and I have been keeping tabs on her like you asked."

"Good, thanks. I owe you one."

"Lose to me at poker tonight and I'll consider us even."

"Whoa, I'm not gonna thank you that much." Chocolate was far too precious.

"That's okay. I'll beat your ass anyway."

"Has any guy tried to hit on her yet?"

"No, not yet. The closest is maybe that ponytailed creep."

"Kavanagh? What's he done?"

"Nothing. He just hangs around her nearby in public spaces like this. It's happened too often to be coincidence."

"Where is he now? I don't see him."

"He's not here today."

"Has he spoken to her?"

"Nope, not yet."

"Well, if he does let me know."

* * *

"I call."

"Raise two."

"Fold."

Mary, Joanie, and Laura Cadman then waited for the Guardian to place her bet. She was wearing her off-duty sundress with a New York Mets baseball cap; her silver tiara could be seen underneath the cap.

The Guardian stared fiercely at her cards.

Joanie said, "C'mon, Genie, hurry up and bet."

"Uhm.. call."

Mary said, "Fold."

Cadman laid down her cards. "Kings over trips. What have you got, Genie?"

"Pair of fours."

"I win again." Cadman pulled in the pot of chips.

The Guardian protested, "Laura, I don't have any chocolate. How am I going to pay this debt to you?"

"I'll just keep running your tab."

"But it is becoming so large."

"Just keep playing. You'll catch on."

The Guardian sighed, "I really wanted to taste some chocolate. I've never tried it."

Mary and Joanie gave Cadman a look. They knew that if the girl with the bottomless appetite ever had a bite of that delicious confection that the base's entire chocolate supply would be in peril.

Cadman shuffled the cards. "Just keep at it. This is good practice for you." She started to deal.

As she dealt the cards she asked, "Hey, Genie, can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"What's your real name?"

"I am the Guardian."

"No, I mean your *real* name."

"My real name?"

"C'mon, we're all friends now, right? My friends call me Laura, that's Mary, and that's Joanie. Who are you? Genie is just a nickname that Sheppard gave you."

The Guardian looked down. "I don't have a public name."

"So does that mean you have a private one?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well?"

"Laura, I am sorry but I can't reveal it. My father's family were traditionalists, and private names like that, True Names I mean, are shared only between close family and lovers, no one else. Even then it is only shared telepathically."

"Only telepathically between lovers? That sounds romantic."

"Oh, it is. Names like that are shared only during close intimacy."

Mary said, "Wow, that seems kinda hot."

The Guardian continued to explain, "Lanteans mate for life. It starts mentally."

Laura leaned in, "Really?"

"Yes. Physical intimacy is just a confirmation of what has already been shared by that point."

"So, do you folks get married?"

"No. The act of physical intimacy establishes the legal union. There is no formal ceremony required."

"That's a bummer. Weddings are fun."

"Well, there is a form of public confirmation or celebration that can happen years later, called the Bonding Celebration."

"A celebration, not a ceremony?"

"Correct. It is not anything legal or official. It is simply a celebration of the Bond, made by the friends and family of the mated pair."

Cadman heard the capital letter in the Guardian's pronunciation. "So what's this 'Bond' thing?"

"The Bond is a permanent and irrevocable mental connection that can grow between a mated pair. You see, after many years the pairs' minds grow closer and closer together. Eventually they become so close that they can complete each other's sentences while talking. Some time after that the Bond eventually forms, and their mental union becomes permanent."

"So, no divorce after that?"

"No. Once established the Bond can never be broken. It is rather rare actually; it takes many years to form, and many couples never reach that level. That is why it is greatly celebrated when it happens."

"That is really cool." Cadman finished dealing. "Five card stud, deuces wild."

The Guardian picked up her cards and stared at them fiercely again.

* * *

"You asked to see me, Doctor Weir?"

"Genie? Hi, come on in."

Weir closed the door. The Guardian sat in one of the visitor chairs. Weir sat in another one next to her. "Genie, I wanted to talk to you about our upcoming negotiations with the Vren."

"I heard. I understand they are being difficult."

"They are. Look, I want to try something. I won't do it unless you're comfortable with it."

"What do you need from me?"

"I'm going to have to conduct these negotiations on their turf, in person, and I don't expect that it will go well. So I'd like to work out a plan in advance, one that involves you, if you don't mind."

"Not at all. I am very much in your debt for saving my city on multiple occasions. What can I do for you?"

"You won't have to actually say or do much. Just you showing up, or even just the threat of you showing up, might be enough."

The Guardian looked at Weir. "What do you mean?"

"I want to try a variation on Good Cop / Bad Cop. Basically I go in and act very reasonable as I try to conduct the negotiations without pushing anything too hard. I will then warn them that I work for an easily angered and rather immature Ancient Lantean girl with pre-Ascendant powers who hates hearing the world 'no'."

"Doctor Weir, I am not immature."

"I know that."

"And you don't work for me. We are allies."

"Yes, I know that too. The point is, I'll act like I work for you. When the negotiations hit a snag, and I think they will, I will hint to them that if they aren't more cooperative that you might get mad and gate in and start knocking some heads together."

"But I would never do that."

"That's where the acting comes in. When the negotiations stall, I want you to gate in and stomp around a bit, scare them by hinting that you might do something nasty to them if they don't become more cooperative, then leave. I'll take care of the rest."

"You want me to bluff them?" The Guardian thought back to her miserable track record playing poker with Cadman's posse. "I am very poor at bluffing."

"I'll write it all down for you. All you need to do is follow my script. You simply gate in, rant a bit, maybe blast some trees in frustration, then you leave. That's it."

"I don't know.."

"Genie, it would really help me a lot."

"You'll write it all down? Everything I have to say?"

"Yes. Just follow the script."

"I won't have to do anything else?"

"Not a thing. Just my letting them know you're out there, all angry and petulant at not getting your way, might be sufficient."

"All right. I'll do it."

* * *

 _Earth, two weeks later_

General Jack O'Neill was busy working a New York Times crossword puzzle with a pencil when his office phone rang in the Pentagon.

He picked it up. "O'Neill."

"Hey Jack?" It was General Hank Landry of Stargate Command.

"Hey Hank. What's up?"

"Less than an hour ago we received an unscheduled gate activation. It only lasted about two seconds. Colonel Carter reported that it contained a highly compressed data transmission. She finished decompressing it about 40 minutes ago. Sir, the transmission was from Atlantis."

O'Neill's eyes lit up. "Hot damn. They made it. What did they say?"

"We're still going through it all. It's a lot of data, over a terabyte of video, still images, reports, and requests. Doctor Weir inserted an executive summary at the top. I'm sending the whole thing to you now, including some highlights as separate attachments."

O'Neill opened his Dell laptop. "I see it coming in. Just give me the summary."

"First of all, I am sorry to report that Colonel Sumner died in the line of duty. KIA."

"Damn. He was a good man. I'll start the paperwork and notify the next of kin."

"What about Major Sheppard?"

"We'll need to promote him. For now give him a field promo to lieutenant bird. I'll start the ball rolling on a permanent one."

"Is that a good idea, Jack? His Air Force file indicates that he sometimes doesn't follow orders, a bit of a renegade."

"Hey, so was I. Hmm, I'm reading Weir's summary now... holy donkey buckets. Things are really crazy over there. Yeah, he's perfect for the job."

"All right."

"Hank, I'm still reading this.. They got life sucking space vampires? Seriously?"

"I know, it's hard to believe. Carter's science team is pouring over everything right now."

"Crap. This is just great, just what we need. Dammit I got the Ori breathing down our necks, and now this?"

"Sorry. Is Daniel Jackson still in Giza?"

"Yeah. I just got a report from him. He states that he is, and I quote, 'guardedly optimistic,' unquote, that they'll find that ZPM in Egypt."

"We're gonna need it."

"Hey, what is this? Who's the hot blond babe princess?"

"Heh, you saw the attachment pic. That is the Guardian of Atlantis. She was already there."

"You mean the place was already occupied? That means we lost any salvage rights. Crap!"

"Sorry again."

"Does she want anything?"

"Yeah, she submitted a personal message, a request for us to send some stuff."

"What does she want? A company of Marines? AA guns? Some nukes to go blast those Wraith guys with?"

"Major Sheppard asked for those. She wants something else."

"Okay, fine. What does Her Probably Very Bitchy Royal Highness want from us then? Zat guns? Jaffa volunteers? Safeway coupons? What?"

"She wants us to send horses."

There was a pause.

O'Neill deadpanned, "Horses."

"Yep."

"They do not pay me enough for this."

* * *

 **A/N:**

* Stargate: SG-1, Season 5 Episode 5, "Fail Safe"

** I watched the episode and timed the wavefront using a stopwatch.

*** To the best of my knowledge, a horse has never been shown on SGA.

I've been trying to write these stories from memory to avoid repeating scenes and dialog, but this two-part chapter was complicated enough that I had to go back and check a few scenes (e.g., the wave). When I watched the wave I wondered, 'Wait, how can the lightning work with that shield up?' So I made McKay do a faux pas that Genie caught and fixed it up so it would work.


	8. Chapter 8: Phone Call

**Chapter 8: Phone Call**

General Jack O'Neill sat on the couch in his small Pentagon office with his Dell laptop open in front of him on the coffee table, searching and reading through the summary of the Atlantis data transmission. He pressed the phone handset closer to his ear using his shoulder as he continued to talk to General Hank Landry of Stargate Command.

"Hank, she wants a pony? Seriously?"

"Well.."

"She sounds like a spoiled brat. I bet Her Royal Whiny Bitchiness is driving Weir crazy."

"Sir, you need to read her full written request. It's the addendum to item 3.

"Item 3 addendum. I found it. Let's see: Two Arabians stallions and ten mares, two Clydesdale stallions and six mares, Thoroughbreds.. Is this a joke?"

"Apparently not."

"Where am I supposed to find horses, Hank? Does West Point even have horses anymore?"

"I don't know, do they?"

"I'm in the Air Force, not the Army, dammit. And what's with all this other stuff? One hundred and fifty bushels of seed corn, fifty bushels of plantable potatoes with eyes, one hundred bushels of Canadian winter triticale, thirty bushels of sorghum seed, soybeans.."

"That's what she wants."

"We're the damn military, not Farm & Fleet. What's all this stuff for?"

"Something about how it will revolutionize life in the Pegasus Galaxy."

O'Neill thought a moment. "Is there video of her? I wanna see it."

"Item 3, just after Sheppard's sitrep."

"Found it. I'm playing the video. She's sitting in a chair reading from a piece of paper. I don't have the sound up and I can already tell she's nervous as hell."

He continued to fast-forward through the silent video as the Guardian shifted uncomfortably in her chair. At one point she fumbled with the sheet. She was looking down at the piece of paper and avoiding eye contact with the camera. "Geez, look at her. I thought Ancients were supposed to be cocky arrogant SOBs. I kinda feel sorry for the poor kid."

"Sir, that 'kid' is 10,000 years old, and she is the legal sovereign of the Principality of Atlantis."

Another pause.

"Excuse me?"

"It's right there in Weir's summary. She claims that the girl's official title is 'The Guardian of Atlantis', and that the title indicates that the girl is the legal head of state representing the Ancients and the Nation of Atlantis.

O'Neill stood up. He was sputtering. "What.. what.. head of state? This is nuts. What the hell is Weir thinking? Does she have any idea the kinds of complications.."

"Hold on a second, Jack." He heard Landry lower the phone. "What is it, Walter?"

After a few seconds O'Neill heard Landry again. "We have a new problem."

O'Neill sat back down on the couch. "Geez, now what?"

"Mr. Woolsey is standing outside my office. He's demanding to know what all the commotion is about."

O'Neil was beside himself. "Hank, what the hell is Woolsey doing there?"

"Sorry Jack. He was in here visiting earlier this morning just before the transmission came in. I thought he had left the base by now."

O'Neill muttered, "The IOA. Frack me." He spoke up, "I completely forgot about those vultures. Hank, we gotta figure this out, and fast."

"Sir, I have a hunch that our good Doctor Weir is already several steps ahead of us."

"Yeah, I'm starting to see the big picture now." O'Neill had a pretty good guess about what Weir was doing. The girl could easily become a political football.

"So what do I do with Woolsey? He's right outside."

"Stiff him."

"Jack, he represents the IOA; I gotta say something. The treaty states that Atlantis and any of its technology must be shared.."

"Don't quote that damn treaty at me. Hmm, let me think a sec. I got it. For now, flood him. Dump the whole terabyte on him."

"The whole terabyte?"

"Yeah. In hardcopy."

"Hardcopy? Do you know how many pages.."

"Kill as many trees as you need and give him pallets of it. It'll stall him."

"Okay. Jack, you're becoming a real politician, you know that?"

"I know. Shoot me. Leave out Sheppard's sitrep. That's NTK classified. The treaty lets us redact OPSEC. Hmm, do me a favor and lose that girl's video too. I don't want Woolsey to see how nervous she was."

"Lose the girl's video? How?"

"Misfile it. Sheppard's sitrep is item 2, right? The girl's video is item 3. Do an 'oops' and mistakenly merge 2 and 3, then classify it."

"Uh.. okay. You're gonna hold my hand during our joint court-martial, I assume?"

"Don't worry. I'll schedule a meeting with the President, and after that it becomes his problem. Okay, let's stop a moment. Set aside the horses and seeds and crap for now; just tell me the military situation."

"You need to read Sheppard's sitrep. I've already started reading it and my hair's turning white."

"Hank, you are totally ruining my day." When O'Neill had woken up that morning he thought he was going to spend most of the day quietly doing crossword puzzles. He picked up his copy of the NYT, sighed, and dumped it in the trash bin. He then sat back down on the couch and pulled the laptop on the coffee table closer to him. "You want me to read item 2?"

"Yeah."

"I got it up. 'Report by Major John D Sheppard, USAF, on the situation at Dien Bien Phu.'"

Another pause.

"Sheppard wrote 'Dien Bien Phu'."

"Yep."

"Man, that says a lot."

"Yep."

The siege of Dien Bien Phu in 1954* was quite familiar to General O'Neill. Indeed, it was known to every US commander who had studied the tactics of modern warfare, the most important siege in modern military history after the Battle of Stalingrad.

In the Spring of 1954 the French had established a forward base deep in northern Vietnam, an isolated fortress that could be resupplied only by airdrops at night. Material and men could parachute in but not out again.

The terrain was difficult, and the base was soon bombarded mercilessly by the Viet Minh with artillery pieces they had brought in by digging tunnels through the surrounding high mountains, mountains that the French had thought to be impassible to large military weapons. The cannons were untouchable in the high distance.

The Viet Minh commander, General Giap, then sent a small number of volunteer scouts ahead to secretly infiltrate the base at night. There they learned the locations of the base's underground sleeping quarters, weapon depots, and other vulnerable areas. The scouts were quickly caught and killed, of course, but not before they radioed back their vital information to General Giap.

When Giap began the final ground assault the fighting was ferocious, with the Viet Minh suffering large casualties from the desperate French defenders as they repelled waves of attacks again and again. The Viet Minh kept coming, relentless, with seemingly infinite capacity to continue the fight as they targeted the base's most vital areas. After two months of intense fighting the fortress eventually fell, with the French government agreeing to withdraw all their forces from the Vietnam peninsula in a negotiated treaty that drew a line at the 17th parallel, creating North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

Sheppard had cleverly communicated a lot of information to General O'Neill with only those three words. O'Neill understood exactly what Sheppard meant: that the battle would be brutal, encircled, fighting against an enemy with unlimited resources, and that no amount of re-armament or re-supply, that no number of volunteers, nothing that Earth could send through that one-way portal, could save Atlantis from its ultimate defeat.

O'Neill thought back to the Guardian's list of agricultural items. The girl knew it too. She was asking for strategic supplies for other worlds, not her own.

His estimation of the Atlantean Princess went up several notches.

"I'll read the rest later; I already got the drift. Okay, let's assume that Daniel finds that ZPM in Eqypt and we can gate one-way and send them anything they want. Sheppard thinks even then they're still screwed."

"Yeah."

"Hmm. I'll call the war college. They'll game it out from there."

"Including with the new BC-304?"

"I'll have them add it in the mix, see what they can come up with."

"How's that going?"

"The Daedalus is currently undergoing space trials, milk runs out to Pluto and back. We'll rush the trials and get her into service ASAP."

"Can that thing even go inter-galactic?"

"Dunno. Even if it could it might take months, years. I'll ask Colonel Caldwell to talk to the Asgard rep about it. I might need to borrow Carter to see if she can help goose it up to go faster."

"No problem. You should see her down here. She's ecstatic."

"I bet. Access to a living Ancient. Oh wow, I forgot about Daniel. He will lose his ever loving mind, heh."

"If you send a relief team to Pegasus they'll both want to go."

O'Neill stood up again. "Absolutely not. I don't want any high value personnel to go within a hundred-thousand light-years of Dien Bien Phu. Not until we get the security situation under better control. Right now it's a one-way trip, and I have a hard enough time as it is thinking about sending Marines on a potential suicide mission."

"Understood. Carter is still going to want to write up a list of questions to send back."

"No doubt. I'm sure Daniel will need his own pallet for his. You think you can send a transmission back?"

"Uncertain. Carter said Doctor McKay's summary item failed to explain how he sent the message in the first place."

"Typical egghead. Well, you have your homework, and I have mine. Keep me in the loop as things develop. I'll call you tomorrow after I discuss it with the President."

"Sure thing. Bye Jack."

O'Neill hung up the phone. He got up from the couch and walked over to the Krups machine. He started a K-cup, extra strong. While it was perking he pushed the button on the intercom. "Cheri, call the White House and ask them if they can squeeze me in tomorrow for about 10 minutes with the President."

 _"Sir, President Hayes left this morning on Air Force One for the China summit."_

"Oh, he did?"

 _"Sir, it was in all the newspapers."_

"It was?" He muttered, "Who has time to read newspapers.."

 _"Would you like me to schedule a meeting with the Vice President instead?"_

"Kinsey? C'mon, Cheri, you know I can't stand that scumbag." Vice President Robert Kinsey was probably the last person on Earth that O'Neill had wanted to talk to, second only to Woolsey, regarding the political aspects of dealing with the Guardian**.

"Call the White House Office of Communications and see if they can set up a Skype call to AF1 with President Hayes, about 10 minutes, any time is fine."

 _"Yes, sir."_

O'Neill walked back to the Krups machine and poured a cup of steaming hot coffee into his mug.

 _You poor girl..._

He turned to look out the window at the bustling DC skyline.

Earth. Sprawling, chaotic, a madhouse. With hundreds of countries, each with its own political agenda, spying, back-stabbing, probably the most Byzantine planet in the universe.

 _Yeah, Earth should scare you all right. It scares me too._

He put on his Air Force hat and headed out.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* See The Battle of Dien Bien Phu on Wikipedia.

** In this timeline Kinsey did not resign after the events in Season 7 Episode 22 ("Lost City, Part 2").


	9. Chapter 9: True Names

**Chapter 9: True Names**

 _10,000 years ago. The End of the Lantean-Wraith War_

The Keeper lifted the broken gate ship from the water and moved it onto the South Pier. Several curious Lantean citizens had gathered to watch the progress of the recovery operation. They were kept back behind a protective energy barrier.

A tall man wearing a white and brown tunic ran up. He stepped through the barrier and asked anxiously, "Were there any survivors inside?"

A faceless Keeper approached him. { Yes. One female. }

"Take her to my lab at once."

* * *

The woman awoke on the examination table. "Where am I?"

The man wearing white and brown was looking down at her with a benevolent expression. He asked her softly, "How do you feel?"

She ignored him as she tried to sit up. "Where are Major Sheppard and Doctor Zelenka..?"

He gently kept her down on the examination table. "Please, relax. I am sorry. You were the only survivor."

"Survivor..? What.."

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"The shield had failed.. the city was imploding under the water.."

"It was? Tell me everything."

"I don't understand. What's going on?"

The man said soothingly, "I will answer all your questions in good time. You are safe now, as safe as you can be. Please, tell me everything."

* * *

High Councillor Moros asked the woman, "You say that you are from Terra?"

Weir stood and respectfully addressed the High Councillor. She was wearing a white smock. "Yes, sir. From Earth."

The man in brown and white who was sitting next to her stood and beamed. "Isn't it extraordinary? Atlantis will still stand 10,000 years from now. Our actions will succeed in protecting the city."

Moros said sternly, "Janus, you were told not to tamper with time. Causality is not to be treated so lightly."

"Sir, no one's treating it lightly."

Moros scowled at him. "You are, with your insistence on continuing these experiments despite the condemnation of this Council. We ordered you to cease these activities, and yet here we sit face to face with a visitor from the future who arrived here in the very machine you agreed not to construct!"

"But now we know that the evacuation will succeed. The city will be safe, and one day our kind will return.."

"Enough! I am hereby ordering the confiscation of this time travel device and all materials connected with its design." He addressed Weir, "Madam, you are welcome to return to Terra with us and live among our people, but for the safety of future causality I am sorry to inform you that you will not be returning to yours."

* * *

Janus walked alongside Weir back to the lab. "I'm very sorry."

Weir protested, "But.. but I can't just let everyone die. You have to give me a ZPM, send me back! Please!"

He put a finger to his lips. "Shhsh. I've already taken measures. Would you like to see?"

"What measures?"

"Hold my hand." They were walking together down a deserted and nondescript hallway in a remote section of the city. He entered a dead-end hallway and stopped. "Follow me." He tapped three wall sconces along the hallway in quick succession, then he pulled her along.

She gasped as he marched right towards a solid blank wall, pulling her close behind. She shut her eyes tightly in anticipation of crashing into the wall, but it didn't happen. She opened her eyes again.

He was still holding her hand as she gazed around the room. It was full of exotic instruments and incomprehensible artifacts.

Together they approached the Time Acceleration Chamber. He said, "Look."

"Oh, it's fantastic."

"You see inside?"

"Yes. What is it?"

"The future."

* * *

Alarms sounded. Weir asked, "Janus, what's happening?"

The Lantean scientist said, "Come quickly. We have run out of time; we must go to the gate room." He pulled Weir along behind him as he explained, "The report just came in. All but one of our remaining battleships were destroyed along with our peace embassy. We only have the one battleship overhead. I am afraid that things will get rather bumpy soon."

They reached the gate room where several Lanteans were busy at the controls. A woman with Asian features was standing near the main console. She ordered, "Initiate the escape program. Launch the city."

There was a tremendous roar as the floor shook. Weir became frightened and held Janus tightly. He reassured her, "Don't worry. We're just taking a short trip around the planet, making the Wraith think that we are fleeing the system."

"We're tricking the Wraith?"

"Yes."

"But what if it doesn't work?"

"It will. Trust me."

* * *

"Shhsh." They were standing on the balcony just outside the gate room looking at the underwater view. Janus was at her side, and together they looked up at the ocean from underneath. There was no indication of any disturbance to the water from above.

The Wraith fleet had departed from Lantea in search of the fleeing city-ship, which had flown around to the back of the planet where it had faked a jump into hyper-space, only to secretly return back to the same ocean, almost back to same the original spot, which was only 50 kilometers away.

"You see? It worked, just like I said it would. Look up there. Isn't it beautiful?"

Weir looked up at the rippling underside of the sea. "Yes, it is."

He turned. "I have so many more sights to show you."

"We're going to Earth."

"Yes. We have no choice. It is the only gate address left that is not controlled by the Wraith. It connects back to your galaxy, to your original home."

"But for me that was 10,000 years in my past."

"I know. Terra today is cold, desolate, primitive. Not a nice place. Don't worry, we won't be staying there long."

"We won't?"

"No."

"Why not? You just said there was no where else to go."

"There isn't. Except for one other."

"Where?"

"The correct answer is 'when'. I intend to rebuild my time machine."

"But I thought the Council had confiscated it and all records on how to build it."

"Yes, they did."

"So you can't..?"

"Oh yes I can." He tapped his head.

"But will they let you?"

"Oh, I think they will. You see, I will promise them that I will go only forward in time, never back. That is no different than a relativistic journey in a near lightspeed ship. No violation of causality; it should be fine."

"But where will you go?"

"We can go wherever and whenever you would like to go."

"We..?"

"Yes. The ultimate journey. The greatest adventure."

He held her hand. "Elizabeth, come with me. Let's see it together. The greatest journey even taken."

"Janus.."

He turned away. "I am sorry, but I have a confession to make. I am afraid that I have made a serious error in my calculations."

She smiled at him. "Oh? You have?"

He turned back and approached again. "Yes, I did. I made the mistake of falling in love with you."

She gave him a knowing look. "Yes, you did." She chided him in a mocking tone, "Janus, you do realize that this is a serious violation of the strict laws of Lantean society. I hear that it is a capital offense even."

He sighed as he held her, "Oh, I know, but I've never been a stickler for following the rules." He looked into her eyes. "And where we are going, well, let's just say that I have a suspicion that you and I won't be the only ones who will be violating it."

She laughed. Then she asked, "The future.. can I see my own time?"

"Possibly, but only in secret. We must never interfere. If the others come with us they will insist on that."

"The others.."

"I have a feeling that the others will want to go with us, into the far future. You see, our kind can no longer Ascend. No one knows why. So I will give them an alternative way to escape, one they will find irresistible: to escape through time instead. Even if the Wraith some day arrive to invade the Milky Way galaxy, dominate it completely, and even Terra itself, we will simply keep accelerating through time, faster and faster, further and further, fleeing from all our enemies, leaving them farther and father behind, until they turn to dust and are no more."

"It makes us sound like cowards. We are leaving nothing for those left behind?"

"Oh, but we will leave something behind. This city. For posterity. For your people. It will survive, a gift. And it will be guarded and protected in the strongest way possible, a living gift, to you and your people, for them and their posterity as well."

"A living gift."

"Yes, you saw. The Subject, being prepared."

"I saw it. The device you attached to her head, you uploaded all that into her mind? All that information?"

"Yes. We call it an Instruction Machine, a standard device that we use to teach Lantean children and give them information. It is quite safe for a Lantean mind to use. It will fill her mind with everything she needs to learn about us, our history, our knowledge, everything she needs to know."

"Everything?"

"Well, the good parts. No need to, shall we say, dwell on past mistakes."

"Are you going to awaken her before we go?"

"Oh yes, I will say a final goodbye to her. You see, even this old scientist is sentimental. She and I have talked many times during the past year. I now think of her as my daughter, so yes, I will say goodbye. It will be hard.."

"Janus, can I please meet her? Maybe I can tell her about my people, what to expect..?"

"No, that might create a another causality loop, and I am in enough trouble with Moros as it is. I am afraid that she can never meet you. Well, I think she will one day meet 'you', but not you, rather a different 'you'.."

She interrupted him. "Wait, you just said 'another causality loop'? Another one? What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, uhm.. " Janus nervously pulled at his collar. "Well.."

Weir said crossly, "Janus! You've done this before!"

He smiled meekly, "Nothing gets past you, does it? Yes, I am sorry. You see, you wouldn't have survived 10,000 years in the Time Retardation Chamber."

"Me? What do you mean?"

"Well, after I had sent you off the first time, I did some re-calculations and I realized that as a mere human that it was very possible that you would not survive the full 10,000 years, possibly even much less - a stroke or a heart attack could have easily killed you at any time. So I went back and tried again. This time I created a candidate that was effectively immortal.."

"Wait, you went back and did it twice?"

"I am so sorry, Elizabeth. I know. I should never have allowed you to go."

"Why..?"

"I did it because I loved you even then. I had seen the look in your eye as you stood at this very balcony, the tear that I saw fall from your eye almost every night, how much you wanted to go back to be with your people again. You wanted it so much. I was heartbroken as I watched. So I tried to give you back want you wanted, as best I could. I sent you back to the future just like you asked."

He looked down. "I missed you so much, more than I ever realized I would. I had such regret." He looked up again. "I worried that you probably did not survive the journey to reach your people again, and so eventually I had to come back. This time I found a way to save your people without sacrificing your life, one that I know will work this time. I'm certain of it."

"It will? You'll save my people? For certain this time?"

"Yes. I promise."

"Then.. then thank you." She came to a decision. "All right, as long as I know that my people will be safe, then yes, I will go with you. I have no regrets."

"Elizabeth.."

"Just promise me one thing. No more going back in time after this?"

"I promise. I'll never do it again."

"All right." She gazed out at the ocean and its underwater wonders. She sighed at the beauty of it, "I look forward to our journey." She turned. "Together."

"Thank you.." He looked down in shame, "I'm sorry."

She approached him and poked her finger in his chest. "You are a very naughty boy, you know." He raised his head up again and smiled.

He gently set aside her finger and gave her a knowing look. "I am sure you will always keep reminding me of that."

She approached him with a twinkle in her eye. "Oh yes. I will. Every chance I get."

* * *

The seal on the Time Acceleration Chamber opened with a hiss. The girl jumped out of it, her eyes eager. She leapt into his arms.

{ Father! }

{ Hello, my little _ _ _. }

{ What are we doing to do today? More TK tests? Mental tests? }

{ No, not today. }

{ I feel so much stronger now. I think I could even float a Mastadge into the air. }

{ I'm sure you could. }

{ Father, what's wrong? }

{ It's time. The others have already left through the portal. Only you and I remain. }

{ It is time? So soon? }

{ Yes, it is. }

{ So you think I am ready, then? }

{ Yes, my child. You are. }

* * *

She stood at the open portal, tall and proud, wearing the white uniform that he had given her.

{ Father, I love you. I'll be waiting for you. }

"I know, my darling _ _ _."

{ You will contact me on every anniversary? }

"If I can. It requires a large amount of energy to establish the link, so it will ultimately depend on the permission of the Council. But if they will allow it, then yes, I will."

{ I will wait, every year. }

He wiped away a tear. { Just remember, _ _ _, there will always be someone watching you. Never forget that. }

{ So you have told me many times. } Then she added, { Father, can I ask you one last question? }

{ Anything. }

{ After you leave, will it be you who will be watching me? }

He wiped his face. { I honestly don't know. But if I can watch you, I promise I will. }

{ Then I will climb up to the city rooftops every chance I get, and will I look up so you can see me. }

{ That is good. Goodbye, my little _ _ _. }

{ Father, goodbye! I love you! }

He left.

* * *

 _Atlantis, present day_

The Guardian sighed as she stirred her tava bean soup while sitting across the table from Laura Cadman in the mess hall. "Ugh, why did I have to do that embarrassing video? It felt like seven billion pairs of eyes were watching me." She shivered slightly.

Cadman ate her own soup as she recalled the video shoot. She had been standing in the back of the room when they filmed the Guardian's message. "You were a bit nervous, but I thought you did great."

"You think it was okay?"

"Definitely. I thought you were very persuasive."

"Really?"

"Hey, you looked like a Disney princess right out of Walt Disney central casting." Cadman mockingly held her hand to her forehead like a damsel in distress. "Sirs, please help me!"

The Guardian scowled at Cadman's exaggerated pose. "I did not say that."

"Trust me, the military will be tripping over themselves to give you anything you want."

"They will?"

"For a space princess? Oh yeah."

The Guardian stirred her soup. "Well, I just hope Doctor Weir knows what she's doing. I have serious misgivings about all this, and not just that video. Her claiming that I am the 'head of state' was ridiculous. }

"It's true, isn't it? You're the head boss of the Lanteans, right?"

"Laura, how can I be the head of a nation that consists of exactly one individual?"

"Look, when it comes to anything related to Earth politics, you just follow Weir's lead. Trust me on that."

"I certainly will." The Guardian put down her _furcacultro_ as she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering again. "To be honest, your world terrifies me."

"Well, Earth is 100,000 light years away so don't worry about it for now. So how did McKay's video go?"

The Guardian groused, "He worked on his presentation for hours. He kept insisting that I help him with it, and I kept explaining that I had no idea what he should say."

"What did he want?"

"He kept fretting how he wanted to 'make a critical contribution for the future of mankind'. He said that the whole transmission was going to hugely historical. All he succeeded in doing was make me even more nervous than I was already."

"Sounds like typical McKay. So what did he say in his vid?"

"I wasn't really paying attention. I think he blathered on camera something about leadership for 60 minutes."

Cadman made a face. "Ew."

"Yes, it was bad even for him. All he did was ramble about leadership and his contributions to mankind, that was it."

"He didn't he leave a message to his family or anything?"

"No, not that I recall."

"Huh. Everybody else did. I said 'hi' to my Mom and Dad, to my brother, my Aunt Judy, my classmates at Quantico, my old boyfriend, even my pet cat."

"Yes, I saw that everyone else did that too. I had no idea that family relationships were so important for humans."

"Oh, yeah, they are."

"I noticed that. Afterwards I thought it was odd that Rodney did not say hello to any of his family members in his video recording like everyone else did. I asked him about it later."

"And..?"

"He told me that except for his sister that he did not have any living family."

"He has a sister?"

"Yes, that surprised me too. He had never said anything about having a relative before."

"I feel kind of sorry for her, having a mega-geekazoid like that for a brother."

The Guardian leaned in, "Oh no, the way he talked about her I suspect that she is just as brilliant a physicist as he is, maybe even more."

Cadman's jaw dropped open. "You're kidding."

"I think she is. I know him well enough, and he was getting pretty defensive about it."

"What's her name?"

"Jean Miller. Rodney said that she had a sexual relationship and had become accidentally impregnated by another college student, an English major."

"Oh, that's too bad.."

"They are married and now have a daughter."

"I take it back; it sounds like it worked out fine. Good for them."

"Rodney said that she quit her physics career to become a full time mother."

"Hey, it's her choice. Personally, I think it's great that she decided to put her family first."

"Yes, it does seem important to humans. However, Rodney did not seem to think so. I suspect they had become estranged after that. He said that he has not communicated with her in several years."

"That's a bummer. That can happen in a family sometimes. Also, McKay is kind of hard to reach."

"Yes, especially in this galaxy. That is why I was surprised he didn't leave a message for her in his video recording. It was his first opportunity to do so in almost a year."

"Well, that's family for you. Sometimes it happens. It's a shame."

The Guardian tucked a loose lock of blond hair back under her New York Mets baseball cap. Cadman noticed it.

Cadman sipped her soup. She said offhandedly, "You like wearing that ball cap a lot."

The Guardian stirred her own soup again without eating it. "Yes. My hair has been growing too long lately. It helps keep it in place."

Cadman asked, "So why not just cut it?"

"Rodney says he likes my hair longer."

Cadman was about to say something a bit catty about their obvious non-relationship relationship, that she valued his opinion so much regarding her personal appearance, when she stopped. It wasn't her place to do that. Instead she said, "Uh, I see."

After another moment Cadman added, "Genie, I gotta say, honestly, that baseball cap does not look good on you."

The Guardian tilted her head. "It doesn't?" Her tiara was poking out from underneath the cap.

"No, not really. The cap wrecks your Disney princess look."

"I see." Doctor Weir had earlier asked the Guardian to remove the baseball cap during her video shoot. "I use it to keep my hair out of my face."

Cadman stood and pulled something out of her pocket. "You ever tried a ponytail?"

"A ponytail?"

"Yeah. My CO lets me wear my hair longer than regulation so I usually wear one when I'm on duty. It works like this." She stood and moved around the table behind the Guardian. She pulled her hair straight back, then wrapped it in a knot and affixed a scrunchy to hold it; the ponytail hung from the back. "There."

The Guardian touched the back of her head. "Ooh. That's interesting. I've never done that before."

Cadman moved back around the table to gave an appraisal. She nodded with approval, "That's way better. It gives you a nice fresh look."

The Guardian continued to feel the ponytail with both hands. "Really? Do you think Rodney will like it?"

Cadman did a mental sigh. "Oh yeah. I'm sure he'll love it."

Sheppard walked up with his tray and gestured at the empty seat next to the Cadman. "This seat taken?"

"Hello, sir." Cadman leaned over and pulled the empty seat back for him. "Thank you for joining us."

Sheppard sat. "Boy, I'm glad those videos are done." Then saw the Guardian's ponytail. "Hey," He smiled in appreciation, "Nice."

She waggled it for him. "You like it, eh?"

"It's a great look on you, Genie."

She blushed slightly. "Thank you."

She stood up. "Well, I need to start my afternoon patrol."

Sheppard also stood up like a gentleman. "Genie, you don't need to do patrols all the time. We have our own guards for that."

She snapped at him, "Look, I need to do my job. I protect this city. I know I don't do much else around here, but at least I can do that!" She left in a huff.

Sheppard watched her leave the mess hall with a surprised look on his face. As he sat back down he said, "Whoa, what was that all about?"

Cadman was also watching. "Huh.."

Sheppard turned, "So what gives?"

Cadman shrugged, "I dunno. She's been kind of moody since the storm."

"You call that moody? She practically bit my head off."

"She's not playing poker with my posse anymore either." Cadman thought, "Hmm. I wonder if she's having trouble with McKay. "

Sheppard opened a napkin. "Naw, they're fine."

"How can you tell?"

Sheppard leaned over and said quietly, "Did you catch that earlier? She said 'eh' like a Canadian."

Cadman's eyes widened. "Omigosh. She's taking on his Canadian accent!"

Sheppard grinned. "Yeah. In a few weeks I bet she'll start wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey and pine for back bacon."

Then Sheppard noticed something. The Guardian had left her soup bowl behind.

"Look at that. She never does that." He pointed.

Cadman saw it and gasped.

The soup bowl was almost full.

* * *

The Guardian looked into a mirror at herself. She turned her head sideways to view the ponytail, then she turned back to gaze at her own reflection.

She touched her face.

 _What am I?_

She lowered her fingers as she kept staring at herself.

* * *

 _Where is my Mommy?_

 _I can't find my Mommy!_

The Guardian woke up with a start, gasping for air.

She sat up and rubbed her face. It happened again, the recurring nightmare.

She stood and looked in the mirror again.

Was that dream a real memory? The Wraith in the brig had accused her. That meant it had to real, yes? Otherwise how could he know?

The Guardian's thoughts drifted back to the Wraith's terrible accusations. She wondered if he was a plant. She would need to ask Sheppard about his capture. Was it too easy?

She closed her eyes as she thought back to his mental attack. She felt that it had to have been intentionally planned. But to what end? Was it intended to simply weaken her will? A gambit to disarm a powerful enemy before the invasion? Or was there a deeper agenda?

Yes, he had to be a plant. Her mental self-defense mechanism triggered. She told herself she would never do that to humans. The nightmare felt too unreal.

There were other images in her nightmares. She was in a hive ship, pinned to a wall, her body broken...

No, none of it felt real. She sat back down on her bed.

Which memories were real? Which were false? Some memories she was certain of. She recalled the mental warfare she had waged against the Wraith queens, the epic battle of wills in a fight often to the death. Her memories of those mind-contests were vividly real, her mental battles. Yes, those actually happened.

Over 6,000 years had passed since then, but she could still recall many of those battles clearly.

Yes, those events must have happened. She knew that those battles included vicious psychological assaults, attacks that plunged tendrils deep into the mind of the opponent, probing for weaknesses, for self-doubt, searching for a way to pry open the opponent's mind at its weakest point, to then crack it open completely, leaving it quivering and helpless, and then destroy it from within. The nightmares had to be the result of residual images implanted by her enemies, left behind from the aftermath of those epic mental battles.

She mentally repressed the image of the lost orphan and tried to drive it from her mind.

For now, it worked.

Her tendency towards denial, that great mental wall that she had previously built, the high and broad defensive barrier that she had unconsciously constructed over the centuries, brick by brick, starting from the very first anniversary when her father had first failed to contact her, had once again held fast.

She was the Guardian. That was her duty, her role. Nothing else mattered.

She started to dress herself in preparation for her morning patrol. After she put on her white bodysuit she remade her ponytail, then she looked at herself in the mirror and nodded with approval. She attached her cloak to her shoulders and put on her white gloves. She gave herself a final appraisal, then headed for the double doors.

It was time to do her duty.

With grim determination she left the Archives to began her patrol.

* * *

Doctor Kurosawa heard a knock on her door in the dark and damp hallway of sublevel 5.

She looked up from her Dell laptop and said cheerfully, "Come in!"

A person slowly pulled open the manual door and tentatively poked a head into the tiny office space.

"I really hate to bother you like this. You weren't wearing your radio so I couldn't call ahead." It was Elizabeth Weir.

Doctor Kurosawa stood up with her cane. "I never wear that annoying contraption. Doctor Weir, this is such a pleasant surprise. Please, come in and sit."

Weir looked around the cramped space as she entered it. She pulled open the folding chair that was leaning against the table. "This is your assigned office?"

"Yes."

They both sat. "Doctor Kurosawa, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize Doctor McKay had put you down here until today."

Kurosawa waved it off. "Oh pshaw, it's fine."

"Well, if you would like a change of office assignment please let me know."

"I like it; it's nice and quiet. So, what brings you all the way down here? You could have just sent me an e-mail message and I would have come up to your office in the gate room."

Weir looked down. "Yes, well, my office is a bit of a fishbowl, and this is actually an unofficial visit. No one knows I'm down here."

Kurosawa said pleasantly, "Then I take it that you are not here to discuss the joys of Ancient Archaeology with me?"

Weir fidgeted a bit. "No, not really. I'm sorry that we haven't assigned any off-world archaeological missions yet. Learning about the history of the Ancients is supposed to be one of our primary mission objectives and I feel very remiss about that."

"Well, you will assign those off-world missions all in good time, I'm sure. Now, what can I do for you?"

"I understand that the Guardian has come down here to visit with you. Several times in fact."

Kurosawa looked at Weir levelly. "Yes, she has."

"What have you been talking about?"

Kurosawa considered her question. After a moment she said, "I am not sure I can answer that."

"You don't know how, or..?"

"I mean I'm not sure if I should. Do you know that I also have a Master of Divinity degree?"

"Yes, I do. You are the closest thing that we have to a chaplain on the base, and I know that you've been doing that unofficially, including your work as an unofficial counselor to some of the other expedition members, and working with Evan Lorne and his twelve-step Bible Study group."

"You are well informed. I have. I'm a bit surprised actually that your US military did not include a chaplain in the Expedition given its large size and mix, the stresses that they must have anticipated could happen here, and the fact they knew that none of us might ever get to go back home again."

"Yes, well, I'm afraid that's partly my fault."

"I see. Are you here then to disapprove of what I've been doing?"

Weir leaned forward. "Oh no, not all all. I am sure you've been very helpful to many members of the Expedition."

"So you see the reason. For my hesitation to answer your question about the Guardian, that is."

"I think so. I assume she was asking you about, well, spiritual matters.."

"To a certain extent, yes. We've been talking quite a bit about many things. She's been helping me with the translation of the public database. Her insights have been very helpful. But we also talked about other things. Privately."

"She confessed things to you."

"Yes."

Weir sighed, "Doctor Kurosawa, you are not a pastor or a priest.."

"Ah, but I do have a minister license."

"I know that. But that is not your official capacity on this expedition. If the Guardian has been secretly discussing matters with you that affect the safety or security of this Expedition, then I need to know about it."

"Yes, of course. Well, you could simply order me to tell you."

"Doctor.."

Kurosawa chided her. "But if that was the case we would be having this little chat in your public fishbowl. You would not be sneaking your way down here."

Weir sighed, "I know. I won't order you. But please..."

"Have you discussed your request with the Guardian yet?"

"Actually, yes. She said.."

Kurosawa interrupted again, "Let me guess. She gave her consent. She told you that it was perfectly fine for you to ask me any questions you wanted about her, and she gave you blanket permission to do so."

Weir was a bit surprised. "Yes, that is almost exactly what she said. How did you know?"

"I believe that I now have a rather good understanding of her." She sighed, "Given what has been happening lately, I suppose that maybe it is time for me to share some of it with you."

"Thank you, doctor. I'm glad you understand."

"Very well. Would you like my personal appraisal of her in my role as her unofficial spiritual advisor?"

"Please."

"Well, just consider what you just told me a moment ago."

"Her permission for this chat."

"Yes. She immediately gave you blanket permission to discuss whatever you wanted about her with me. Why do think she did that?"

"Well, I admit she can be a bit passive sometimes.."

"Yes, with you she is very passive. But that is not the reason."

"So what is it then?"

"She gave you permission because she believes that she is just a tool."

"A tool?"

"Yes, she believes that quite literally."

"I see."

"Doctor Weir, I do not mean to be disrespectful, but you have been treating her like that ever since she woke up."

The accusation stung. Weir looked down. "Yes, you're right. I suppose I have."

"Yes you have, emphatically so. Indeed, during her entire life everyone has been using her as just a tool, or a weapon, or an information source. All for their own ends. Everyone has. You, Major Sheppard.."

".. and Doctor McKay, I know."

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"But Doctor McKay has been pumping her for answers to his endless science and technology questions for months now, almost non-stop. He's been using her more than anyone else on the base. And yes, quite literally."

"Yes, he has. And she feels most satisfied when she's fulfilling his requests. But you're missing something."

"Which is?"

"He actually cares for her."

"But we all.."

"No. Everyone else is either afraid of her or they think of her as a tool, or both. They are afraid of her powers, her alienness, her alleged ability to read other people's thoughts.."

"Wait, alleged?"

"Have you ever actually seen her do it? Read another person's actual thoughts? I haven't. Have you?"

"That is because she is very careful to respect everyone's privacy."

"Exactly. She's never violated her oath, so there's nothing for us to fear, and yet almost everyone in the Expedition avoids her except when they need her for something."

"But she's friends with Laura Cadman."

"A casual friend, yes. The Guardian is awkward socially, with no real social skills, and she is often unintentionally rude. Cadman is a gadfly who is able to look past that so they are casual friends. But the Guardian has no close relationships with anyone. I suspect she never has."

"I see." Weir thought a moment. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, uhm.."

"Yes?"

"This is private, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, and this is absolutely confidential, but I suspect, and Sheppard agrees with me, that McKay and her are in a relationship."

"Interesting. I asked her about that. Point blank in fact."

Weir was surprised. "You did?"

"She answered no, they were not."

"Oh.."

"I probed the issue with her a bit, without pressing too hard. I think I have a fairly good idea what's going on."

"Which is..?"

Kurosawa paused. Then she said, "You're right. It's very private."

"Doctor, the Guardian gave me permission to ask."

To Weir's surprise, Kurosawa pounded the table. "Of course she did!"

Weir leaned back. "Doctor..?"

"She'll agree to anything you ask! She thinks she has no free will!"

Weir sighed, "I'm sorry, and I understand your point of view.."

Kurosawa said a bit sarcastically "Well thank you."

Weir leaned forward again. ".. but I really need to know what's going on with her. It's now a matter of base security. She's becoming withdrawn, and she's not eating. Doctor Beckett is becoming very concerned about her weight loss. What's happening? I need to know."

"Have you talked to Doctor McKay about it?"

"Sort of. He's starting to notice it too."

"And?"

"He's been trying to cheer her up with an offer to do more cloud watching, but she declined."

Kurosawa made a small smile. "Oh, he told you about that? I'm rather surprised he did."

"Yes. He's starting to get worried too. Very much so."

"I see. Well, I am happy to hear that he was able to open up and confide to you like that. He's a very private person, even more than she is. The fact he told you confirms my opinion that he is not the root cause of her obvious mental depression."

"So she's depressed."

"Very."

"I thought so. Should I have her make an appointment to go see Doctor Heightmeyer?"

Kurosawa considered it. "Hmm, I don't think this is a problem that a clinical psychologist can solve. She'll go do it if you asked her, of course. She's very passive with you. But I don't think it will help very much. In my opinion her depression is not a physiological problem that can be fixed with happy drugs or Freudian talk therapy."

"So what is going on with her? What is her problem exactly?"

"I think it is an existential one."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, as I said, she thinks she is just a tool, and literally so. She also thinks she is not a person."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That makes no sense. Of course she is a person."

"Not from her point of view."

"Hmm, I see."

Kurosawa paused. Then she said softly, "She also confided to me something, something very private.." She hesitated.

Weir waited patiently.

"I'm not sure I should say.."

Weir leaned forward again. "Please, doctor. This goes beyond just my concern for the well-being of one individual. It involves the security of the entire Expedition. I need to know."

"Yes, I understand." She thought some more. Finally Kurosawa sighed, "Very well, I suppose I have to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"That she believes that she does not have a soul."

Weir was taken aback. "Oh dear."

"Yes."

"So what can we do to help her?"

"Well, when a person enters a deep personal spiritual crisis like this, like the one she is currently in, I find that it becomes a personal matter between them and God."

Weir considered her statement. "So there is nothing we can do."

"When a person is like that, no. We can still be supportive, we can pray for them, but it is really out of our hands."

"I think I understand."

"In my experience it usually takes some kind of unexpected crisis or a major event. Something that results in some kind of revelation, only that can really change a person. Only time will tell."

Weir sighed and stood. "Well, thank you doctor. You've been most helpful. Please don't bother getting up." She folded the chair so it was no longer obstructing the narrow door. "And let me know if you change your mind about getting a better office."

Kurosawa smiled, "I will dearie, and thank you for taking the time to come down here to visit. If you'd like to come down again and chat with me about this or anything else, remember I'm always here."

"I will. Thank you for your kind offer. Goodbye."

* * *

The Guardian was standing on the balcony outside the gate room, gazing over the city skyline.

McKay approached tentatively from behind. She sensed him. Normally she couldn't do that with her limiter up at 90% - when she could only sense very strong or violent emotions. But with him she could always detect whenever he was near.

He came up behind her, a few steps away. "Hey."

She ignored him. She kept gazing out over the city and the ocean beyond.

He walked beside her and put his hands on the railing next to her. "Wow, look at those stratocumulus formations." He turned. "It's a perfect day to do some cloud watching, don't you think?"

She kept watching the sea. "No thank you."

"C'mon, I got time."

"I'm not in the mood."

He moved in close and whispered. "G, what's wrong? You've been like this since the Genii raid. What's bugging you so much?"

She shifted her eyes up at her tiara. He understood. He nodded in consent.

She tapped it twice.

{ Rodney, I feel completely useless. }

"C'mon, G, that's silly."

{ I haven't done anything. }

"Sure you have. You've done lots of stuff."

{ Like what? }

"Hey, you've helped me a million times. I've learned stuff from you that will put me hip deep in Nobel Prizes for the rest of my life."

{ That's not what I mean. }

"So..?"

She kept watching the waves churn in the distance.

{ Rodney, who am I? }

He remembered that she had asked him that very same question during their first rooftop encounter, just before she walked out.

"Uh.. you're the Guardian of Atlantis?"

{ All right, then tell me, what have I done to fulfill that role? }

"Well, uh.. you stopped those Wraith guys from attacking us whenever Teyla's necklace kept attracting them to our location."

{ You didn't need me for that. }

"You helped us save the city during the storm. That was a huge help."

She finally turned, her eyes flashing at him.

{ Did I? And what did I do? Nothing! My city was invaded, and I didn't lift a finger to stop the invaders. Literally! I was a mannequin! }

"Well, that wasn't your fault.."

{ Rodney, I still did nothing. The one and only time my city was actually invaded, the one and only time in over 10,000 years where I was supposed to actually do my damn job, what did I do? Absolutely nothing. The Genii turned me off like a light switch! }

"We didn't know they could do that."

{ And what if they do it again? I'm useless. }

McKay considered it. "No, I don't think they will ever be able to do that again."

{ Why not? }

"A command word used like that, once everyone else hears it, could easily become common knowledge and abused. It would be designed to only work once. Kind of like a Command Seal in _Fate Stay/Night_."

{ A Command what? }

"It's from a famous anime show where, uh, nevermind. It's way too complicated. Anyway, I really doubt that will ever happen again."

{ Rodney, my sworn mission is to protect Atlantis. I'm not supposed to ever leave the city, but I just feel like I need to do something, something to help with the fight beyond just protecting the city. }

McKay remembered Kolya's biting accusation. "Okay, what would you like to do?"

She started speaking aloud. "I don't know yet. Something. Anything. So I don't feel so useless."

"Well, the invasion is coming.."

"Yes. I know."

"The long range sensors still aren't showing any approaches yet."

"Those sensors operate only out to 400 light years. If a major assault was coming we'd only have about a week's warning, assuming they don't stop to feed. I'm guessing they won't."

"I agree. With all the culling they've already done they're just about all filled up by now. They'll hit us fast to avoid giving us time to prepare countermeasures."

"Rodney, didn't you mention something about Cowen having a Wraith ship tracking device?"

"Oh yeah. He said it could track all the Wraith hive ships anywhere in the galaxy."

"We need that. It will tell us when they're finally marshalling, give us a lot more lead time."

"It sure would. But good luck getting one, G. I don't know if you've noticed it or not but we are not exactly on the greatest of terms with the Genii right now. And if you're thinking of sneaking in and just swiping it, it's turned off, undetectable, and it could be hidden anywhere, assuming it's still even on their home planet."

The Guardian thought about it. "The Wraith tracking device is a standard operational component of a hive ship. Every hive ship has one."

"Yeah, so?"

"Rodney, I'm pretty adept at secretly raiding hive ships.."

McKay's eyes lit up. "Yeah. You're really good at that."

She sighed, "Finally, something I can do that's useful."

"Oh yeah. Let's go talk to Weir and Sheppard." McKay turned to leave.

Something crept into her mind unbidden. The Guardian turned and looked around. She didn't see anyone.

She said to McKay, "You go on ahead, find Weir and ask her to call in Sheppard. I'll catch up with you in a minute."

"Okay." He ran off to Weir's office.

The Guardian raised her limiter up to 90% and glanced around, eyes narrow. She walked past some guards to the stairwell. She opened it and climbed down one level.

There he was. She quickly approached the man who was wearing glasses and a ponytail. He looked as if he had just happened to be entering the stairwell himself.

She told him, "Stop that."

Kavanagh seemed offended. "Excuse me?"

"I said that's enough!"

"Enough of what? I have no idea what you're talking about. Hey, you're that Guardian woman, right?"

"You know damn well who I am."

He gave her a smile. "Oh hey. Nice to meet you."

She wasn't fooled. "Do that again and.."

He dropped the act. "And what? You'll report me for having bad thoughts?"

She glared at him.

"I know you can't. You're strictly limited." He crossed his arms and gave her a self-satisfied smile. "You're only allowed to report private thoughts that might harm city security. Those are Weir's standing orders, and I'm guessing that they are your old masters' too."

A low growl rose from her throat, but she said nothing.

"You can't punish me just for having bad thoughts."

"That's.. that's disgusting."

"You won't report it. If you did, you'd be a walking civil liberties violation. I'll tell everyone. You'd be totally ostracized for spying on everyone, even more than you are already."

"You creep."

His smug smile grew.

She shoved him up against the stairwell wall. "Stop thinking about me like that!"

He said defiantly, "Make me." He looked down at her forearm pressed against his throat. "This is already assault."

She realized what she was doing and released him. Another set of his thoughts forced their way through her limiter, worse than ever.

She whirled back and saw his smug face. She was ready to kill him. Kavanagh had no idea the kind of mortal danger he was now in.

The Guardian closed her eyes as she fought back the urge to detonate him where he stood.

She opened her eyes and saw that his grin had widened. She silently cursed herself. She had let him get the better of her.

His plan was working. He succeeded in getting a reaction out of her. She could tell that her assault on his person had strongly aroused him.

She turned away and tried to think. His plan worked. Now he would do it again and again, every time he was near. Nothing could stop him.

She couldn't report it. And her ROE didn't allow her to harm him either.

She pressed her lips together. Surely there was something..

She had an idea. She turned back and took off her tiara. She stepped towards him, giving him a sultry smile. "So you like bad thoughts, huh?"

He saw the mental image she was projecting of herself. "Oh yeah, baby."

She spoke casually as she twirled her tiara around her finger, "You know, I met a Wraith once, a nasty one. He liked to hunt runners. He was a special case, and he had it coming. I did something to him that I had never done to a Wraith before. It was so, well, nasty, that I just can't forget it. It keeps popping into my mind, over and over.."

Kavanagh's eyes widened in shock. "Argh! Oh my god!"

".. and I just can't control it sometimes.."

"Stop!"

The Guardian stopped twirling her tiara and looked at him. "Hmm? Is something wrong?"

"Just stop it!"

"Hey, everyone has bad thoughts sometimes. They just happen. You can't control them, right?"

"Stop it! Please stop!"

"Look, you can't punish me for having bad thoughts."

He was bent over with his arms around his head. "Just stop! All right! I won't do it again!"

She put her tiara back on. "Sorry, your face just popped into my head, and that Wraith suddenly looked just like you. Free association. Funny how that happens sometimes."

He stood up unsteadily and glared at her, "You bitch."

She prepared to leave. "Never do that again. I have more important business than dealing with the likes of you."

"Yeah, like 'dealing' with McKay, huh?"

She whirled back. "Stop talking."

He glared back.

"Remember, if you do anything like that again, well, let's just say that I have even better memories of my favorite Wraith kills that might leak out my mind accidentally." She turned and began to walk back up the stairs to the gate room.

Kavanagh ran to the foot of the stair landing. He gasped, "You know who opted out?"

She kept climbing the stairs and did not turn back. She said as she climbed up, "Three opted out. I understand that you were one of them."

He again yelled up at her, "But they never told you who else, did they? Check it. Check the list!"

She ignored him as she entered the gate room and went up the broad central stairway to join Sheppard and McKay in Weir's office.

McKay smiled as she walked in. "Hey, G."

Teyla briefly bowed her head.

Sheppard grinned, "Ah, just in time to join the party. I love this plan."

The Guardian walked toward the wall monitor. "So you're thinking of going back to Mirai?" She was referring to P61-M35, the planet where they had previously spotted six parked hive ships from orbit.

"No, that intel is out of date. AR-2 did a recon on them yesterday. All six ships are now gone." Sheppard turned off the display.

The Guardian was disappointed. "I see. No other targets?"

"Well, there's still that first buried ship, the one where we rescued Teyla and lost Sumner. It's still sitting on the Wraith homeworld."

"Hmm. I wonder why it hasn't moved yet?"

"Dunno, but it's a good choice for a hit. There's a space gate in orbit, and because the hive ship is still buried it can't shoot back at us or launch darts to chase us. I say we do it."

The Guardian nodded. "Looks good." She pulled up a general schematic of a Wraith hive ship. "The ships are organic but they all have the same basic layout. The main control center is here." She pointed. "The tracking device has to be somewhere in that chamber. I'll go in, find it, and remove it. I'll leave my jumper parked and cloaked nearby, then I'll report back when I have it."

Sheppard said, "Hey, we're coming with you."

"John, there's no need."

"We'll hang back at the cloaked jumper. If you get in trouble we'll fly in and pull you out."

She turned to McKay. "Rodney.."

"Hey, we're all coming with you, whether you like it or not."

Teyla added, "I will be coming because it is possible that we still might find some of my people inside."

The Guardian sighed, "Very well."

Weir said, "Good, it's AR-1 plus 1. Get that tracking device, and Godspeed."

* * *

The Guardian sat across from McKay in the back portion of the puddle jumper. Sheppard was piloting with Teyla in the copilot seat. They were up front talking quietly.

Normally she and McKay would sit together, but he could tell that she wanted to be alone so he sat on the other side. He kept himself busy by using his tablet to examine the schematic of the hive ship to try to pinpoint the exact location of the tracking device within the control room.

The Guardian sat by herself, lost in her own thoughts. She furtively glanced over at McKay. He didn't notice.

During the pre-mission prep the Guardian had quietly used her image viewer to pull up the Expedition's log during the incident with Teyla and the necklace. It confirmed what Kavanagh had told her.

She secretly glanced at McKay again. Her mind was in complete turmoil. Why? Why was he so afraid of her? A brief mental contact would not reveal any embarrassing secret in his past.

It couldn't be that he didn't trust her either. She would never dig into his mind like that anyway, and even if she did, he must have known that she would never reveal his secrets to anyone. She had taken a solemn oath to that affect, and he knew that.

So why did McKay opt out of the mind scan?

Looking back she realized that McKay had always carefully avoided any situation where she might read his inner thoughts. She recalled what had happened when she offered to briefly join with his mind for a few seconds to help him take off his personal shield. When she made the offer the shield device suddenly popped off by itself.

She remembered his early repeated refusals to let her communicate with him telepathically. He was emphatic with his refusals. It was only after the storm that he had realized that such mental communication did not reveal inner thoughts, so it would not reveal any of his secrets. What was he hiding?

She had let her guard down around him because she had never felt more relaxed, simply by enjoying his mind-music. They spent so much time together, and soon she believed that he had genuinely liked her. Her. Not as a tool, nor as a potential sexual conquest. She was not a means to an end like she was with Weir or Sheppard. Rodney was her friend, a real one.

McKay was her first human friend, and eventually he became her best friend.

Or was he?

What was he hiding? He had boasted about how their many talks would let him win endless Nobel Prizes.

She would be a means to an end for him.

A terrible thought came to her.

We she just a tool in his eyes as well? Was that what he was trying to hide? Was that his secret?

The thought affected her more than she realized. She felt a physical pain in her stomach. It was a terrible burning sensation. She couldn't figure out what was causing it.

"G, you okay over there?"

Her eyes snapped up in alarm. She realized that she was tightly clutching her stomach with both hands. He noticed.

She removed her arms and looked away. "I'm fine, just something I ate that did not agree with me."

"Oh. Say, I think I found where the tracking device should be. Wanna see it?"

She watched him switch seats. His thigh was now touching against hers, as had happened many times before, except now a flood of conflicting emotions hit her when they touched. It was only then did it occur to her how much casual physical touching they had shared up to that point.

In the past she had leaned over his shoulder countless times, her body pressing against his back, as she eagerly manipulated the equations on imaging table. They often pressed in shoulder to shoulder together to look at something one of them found on a monitor. Only now did she realize how that might look to someone else who was watching them.

McKay leaned in close and pointed. "I think it's right there. There's a big data line that runs from that point up to the dorsal communications relays."

She stammered, "Oh.. yes."

"What do you think?"

"I'm sure you're right."

"Hey, are you feeling sick?"

"I said I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Want to call it off, maybe have Doctor Beckett check you?"

She grew angry. "No! I am fine!"

Sheppard spoke up. "You kids behaving yourselves back there? Don't make me pull over."

McKay looked up. "Are we there yet?"

Sheppard drawled to Teyla, "Hear that? Just like a kid." Teyla suppressed a grin.

The ground was quickly approaching. "30 seconds to landing, camo holding. Target is 2 clicks north. No activity. Get ready."

* * *

The Guardian slipped past the Wraith drone who was standing guard at the entrance to the parked hive ship. She had her thermo-optical camouflage turned up to maximum with the hood flap pulled down over her face. She snuck past the guard and crept inside.

The smell assaulted her senses. She had forgotten how powerful it was. She flattened herself against a wall as two guards approached, fighting the urge to slash them to ribbons. After they passed by she moved deeper into the ship, switching from passage to passage. There was more activity inside than was expected for a hive ship that had been parked for 100 years. Some fairly tall pine trees were now growing from the rich topsoil that had accumulated over the decades on the dorsal side of the ship.

She moved from passage to passage as she progressed deeper and deeper into the living ship, drawing on her well-remembered internal map of a hive ship from her memory. She finally reached the main control center. It was crowded with at least a half dozen Wraith commanders working at various stations.

This was the most dangerous part of the mission. She knew that some of the commanders might have mental powers. Occasionally those powers could be formidable, even enough to challenge even her. Her limiter was at 100% but she knew that sometimes a powerful Wraith would notice her if she got too close. She edged around the control room towards the data panel.

She reached the panel successfully. It was hidden behind one of the consoles out of sight. She quietly removed it and found her target, a square flat object about 15 centimeters on a side. Four cables were attached to it. That was unexpected. Normally there would be only three: one for the main computer, one for the communications relays up top, and one for power and ground. What was the fourth cable for?

No matter. She took off one white glove and made a chopping motion with her hand. The wind cut sliced the first cable successfully, then she cut the second, then the third.

When she cut the fourth cable a loud screeching alarm sounded. Suddenly six Wraith commanders all turned in her direction. It was because after the Genii had stolen the device the first time the Wraith had since updated the design of the device to include an alarm circuit.

She cursed as she grabbed the tracking device and ran out, knocking over one of the Wraith commanders as she fled the room. More alarms were now sounding. She turned off her camo to divert the energy to her limbs as she ran faster and faster, blasting the arriving Wraith drones out of her way. She approached the exit door. It was locked shut. She took a chance and teleported past it, hoping that nothing was standing on the other side. There wasn't, and she continued to run. She spotted some Wraith coming at her laterally, an external patrol. She shifted direction and dove straight into a line of trees, leaping over dead logs and branches while dodging huge tree trunks.

She turned to look back. She didn't see anyone following. Unfortunately in doing so she ran right into a huge sticky web that spanned two tree trunks. The web caught her and she tried to twist out of it, which only succeeded in wrapping the sticky fibers even tighter around her cloak.

Then she felt it, two sharp pains in the side of her neck. For the first time in her life she felt real, primal, fear. She screamed, flailing, trying to grab the pulsating thorax of the Iratus bug to rip it off her neck. In doing so she felt a burning sensation under her back, where her biopacks surged with power. The bug was quickly draining her to fight back.

She knew it was already too late, but her hardwired instincts refused to give up. She started writhing like a wild animal in a trap, snarling, clawing, still trying to remove it.

It soon weakened her to the point that she could no longer move. She could only pant now as she stared up at the sun.

Then a shadow crossed it. It was a Wraith commander.

The commander hissed as he showed his corpse-like rictus of a smile. She felt more misery at that moment than she had ever felt in her whole long life.

He said in a hissing voice. "I will be taking this back." He calmly bent over and removed the tracking device from the pouch inside of her cloak. Then he stood over her again.

Her breathing slowed as she waited to die.

He tilted his head as he appraised the situation. Finally he said, "How exquisite."

She grunted, "Hurry up and get this over with."

"And do you a favor? I think not."

"Curse you and your queen."

"As much as I would like to remove your head and show it as a trophy to my great queen, it is much better for you to die like this, utterly defeated, helpless, and totally humiliated, while you suffer such deliciously unbearable pain."

He casually turned the tracking device over in his hands as he said idly, "So much trouble, such infighting. Well, my queen does not serve Queen Death. She will be overjoyed to hear my report, the final ignominious defeat of The Destroyer - her life sucked away in the jaws of a bug!" He laughed as he walked away.

She ignored his taunts and instead she closed her eyes as she concentrated, and with supreme effort she managed to barely generate enough TK power to trigger the radio headset microphone. The bug reacted by drawing out her power even faster. She screamed again in pain.

She heard Shepard's voice respond on her headset. _"Genie, is that you? Talk to me!"_

She gasped, "John, I'm in trouble."

 _"We're taking off now, homing in on your signal."_

"Uh, no, don't come here. Forget I called." She was no longer thinking clearly. "They're on alert now; they'll see you."

 _"Genie, just shut up and sit tight. We're coming."_

* * *

Sheppard was in the pilot seat with Teyla. They were both strapped in tightly to their seats. Sheppard was yelling behind at McKay as the jumper continued to rock, "McKay! How badly were we hit?"

McKay yelled back, "One of the drive pods is down! You think we can still make it?"

Sheppard saw the space gate approaching. "I think we're good. Dialing now."

Teyla radioed, "Atlantis, this is Jumper One. We are declaring a medical emergency."

A voice radioed back, _"Copy Jumper One. A med team is on its way."_

McKay knelt down on the back floor of the jumper. "Hang in there, G."

The Guardian was on the floor, delirious. "No.."

Sheppard announced, "Going in."

The Guardian closed her eyes and passed out.

Suddenly there was a huge lurch. McKay tumbled hard into the edge of the door frame that separated the rear and front compartments.

* * *

The Guardian slowly opened her eyes. McKay was kneeling over her, showing more concern for her than she had ever seen before. She smiled weakly.

 _My Rodney.._

She saw him talking, but no words seemed to come out of his mouth. Eventually her mind cleared enough to hear his voice, although it still seemed hollow and very far away.

"G! Can you hear me?"

Her eyes fluttered.

"G, I need you to talk me through this. I'm going to inject you with some morphine. There. Now, try to clear your head for me. What's happening to you?"

She smiled. "Rodney, you came back for me.."

"What's this thing on your neck? I tried to it cut off with a scalpel from the med kit but it glowed and you screamed really loud."

"No.. don't."

"It's feeding on you. Your vitals are dropping like a rock. How do I get this thing off you?"

"You can't."

"What the hell is it?"

"It's an Iratus bug." She gasped again, "Always fatal."

"What?"

"They never come off until the victim is dead. They.. they.. tried to take it off before. So many times. Nothing works. Stasis just delays it. That's what they do, they zero in on the strongest life force they can find, then feed on it until it dies."

"Oh my god."

"It's killed pre-Ascendants far more powerful than me. Many times. Nothing they could do could take it off until it killed them." She struggled to look in front of her, and she saw a rippling watery glow just ahead of the frame that separated the rear and forward compartments of the jumper. "What happened? Where are John and Teyla?"

"They're in the forward compartment, already dematerialized. No way to reach them. One of the pod bays failed to retract and we're wedged in the open gate."

"T-Time left..?"

"About 30 minutes."

"Oh Rodney.. I'm so sorry.."

"This isn't your fault."

She tried to lift her head up again. "Yes it is. I screwed up. Again. I always screw up. Now I killed you. Oh Rodney.."

"Just calm down. The morphine is just making you loopy."

"I'm useless. Nothing I do does anything but make things worse for you. For everyone."

"Hey, shush now. Save your strength."

"I never did anything useful for anyone. Not even you."

"Hey, enough loopy talk. C'mon, G, I can't imagine what I would have done without you. You've helped everyone."

She laughed bitterly. "How? By interrogating that captured Wraith? By finding Teyla's traitor? By stopping the Genii raid? Rodney, I couldn't even fetch a simple tracking device. I have a 100% failure rate."

"C'mon.."

She managed to raise one arm up. She said deliriously, "Woo hoo! Go Guardian!" In response the bug tightened its grip and she grimaced.

"Stop the loopy talk. Don't move, sit tight. I'm gotta work on retracting that pod bay manually, then I'll come back and help you."

She lost track of time. At some point she saw Rodney's face in front of her again. He had just finished injecting her with another shot.

"G, that was the last of the morphine."

"Rodney.."

"Look at me. Eyes on me. G, I need your help before you pass out again. Follow me up with your eyes." She did as he stood up. "See this access panel?" He pointed. "There are eight control crystals in here. I don't have my tablet, so I don't know which one is which. One of them runs the motivator for the drive pod. I know they're configured so they snap shut automatically whenever power is lost - safety feature, so something must be shorted to keep it pushed out. Either that or there's debris in there in which case we're screwed anyway. Look, if I pull the wrong crystal I might shut off life support or something else vital. Now think really carefully. Tell me, which crystal is it?"

"Rodney, what are you hiding from me.."

"Uh, y-yeah. We can talk about that in a minute. For now look up at me. Eyes up. Which one is it? Please, think."

"Take my tiara off first."

"What?"

"Please.. I have to know. If I lose consciousness again I won't wake up."

"Okay, okay." He gently pulled it off her.

{ Rodney.. }

"Don't probe. You'll just waste power and feed the bug faster."

{ Then tell me. }

"I uh, I can't. I'm terrible with words like this. Look, let's wait until.."

{ I think it's the first crystal. The leftmost one. }

He jumped up. "Okay! Trying it."

He pulled out the crystal and the cabin rocked briefly. "Hey! I think that did it!"

He knelt down quickly next to her. "Oh god, G. You're beautiful."

{ Am I? }

"Oh yeah. I think you're the most wonderful, most smartest, most beautiful woman in the world."

{ Rodney, I'm just a tool. }

"No, no, no. Look uh, oh boy.. Just wait. We're not moving. Ugh, 10 minutes.."

{ That's all I ever was, a tool. }

"No! I said just wait! Look, just one last question, I promise. Please tell me, is there any way to fire the thrusters from the back compartment?"

{ No. You have to go outside with a pressure suit. }

"Dammit. Okay, uh, I gotta think.. Hey, can I fire a drone backwards maybe?"

{ No. There's nothing you can do. It's hopeless. }

"Aw, dammit." He pounded the bulkhead wall repeatedly with his first. "Dammit, dammit! What else.."

{ Rodney, be careful what you are hitting. }

"Huh?" He turned and looked where his fist was still pressed up against the bulkhead. In pounding it he had almost hit the button for opening the rear hatch, possibly killing them both.

He stopped and stared at the hatch button.

Newton's Third Law.

Of course.

He whirled and looked at the event horizon. Anything inside would be safe from the decompression.

He quickly knelt back down again. "Okay, here's the plan. I'm going push you through the event horizon. Then I'll hit the hatch button. The explosive decompression should shove the jumper through."

{ Rodney, no, you'll be killed, and.. }

He lifted up the lid on the storage compartment. "I'll tie this rope around myself. Yeah, this will suck eggs, and I might blow out my eardrums, but.."

{ Rodney, NO! You can't let this bug get in to my city! }

"Look, Beckett will figure it out. I take back everything I said about medicine being voodoo; he's actually a pretty good doctor. We can use a stasis pod if we have to.."

{ Rodney, you don't understand. It's already drawn an incredible amount of power from my biopacks. It's unkillable now. I can sense that it's a female and it has eggs. If it gets in to the city it will escape, and it will hide somewhere and lay them. There are hundreds of dark places for it to go make its nest, and you would never find it in time. When they hatch there will be hundreds of them. They hunt at night, targeting the strongest lifesigns. You'll never be rid of them. }

"Oh man.."

{ Tie yourself with the rope, then hit the hatch button. It will blow me out the back and get rid of the bug. }

"No way. Not in a million years."

{ Rodney, do it! Please! }

"No!"

She closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could. He felt the start of her mind probe.

The bug glowed and she screamed again.

"G, don't! Stop that! I'll just tell you."

{ S-Sorry.. I just want to know.. }

"I, uh, oh man. How do I say this.."

{ Just think it. }

{ Uh, right. Uhm, yeah.. I've been hiding it from you. I'm so sorry. Uh.. }

{ It's okay. Let it flow out naturally. }

He told her.

She marvelled at him. { Oh Rodney.. }

{ My name is Meredith. }

{ What? }

{ That's my real name. Meredith. }

She told him hers.

{ That's so beautiful. But kind of long.. }

{ My father gave it to me, a diminutive that means 'pouncing white tiger kitty'. }

{ You're a tiger? Heh, of course. }

{ Do you remember the very first cloud I pointed out? }

{ Oh.. You were giving me a hint, right? That was part of your name. }

{ Yes. }

{ Say it again. }

{ Felestigrisalirealbassara.* }

{ Ugh, why are Lantean names so damn unpronounceable? }

{ Meredith, thank you for this. My last memory. }

{ Wait, Felestigrisalahlah, argh.. }

{ Do you remember what I transmitted to you that night before the storm? My only regret? }

{ You wished this dream would never end. }

{ Yes. It's been wonderful, the dream we had.. }

{ Bassara. }

{ .. and I'm so glad I could share it with you. }

{ Wait.. }

{ I'm going to sleep now. I love you. }

{ Bassara, wait! }

{ Meredith, push the button. }

He jumped up. "Dammit, no! I'm not giving up!"

{ It's time for you to wake up. }

"No! I refuse!"

{ The Iratus bug always kills. Always. No one has ever survived. }

"No, no, no, no!" He pounded the bulkhead wall with both fists.

{ I love you. Goodbye. }

He whirled around the rear compartment. "There has to be way! I'm not letting you go! I won't! I won't!"

He dived into the storage bin and started throwing everything out onto the floor: a P90, some ammo clips, a pistol, a pair of radios, battery packs, some flares, a life sensor, extra vests, another med kit, an AED, a package of MREs..

He picked up one of the items. { Bassara.. }

{ Hurry, kill me. It's almost done feeding. If you love me, kill me now. Please! }

He stood up holding the AED device.

"All right, I will."

* * *

She was sitting on the roof of the North Tower, her hands wrapped tightly around her knees, rocking herself back and both.

He climbed up the ladder, completely out of breath. "Hey."

She yelled, "Stay away!" When she had woken up in the infirmary she had ripped off the IVs and fled.

He pulled himself over the ledge and approached. "It's okay."

She kept yelling, "Just stay away! Stay away!"

He picked her up and held her. She didn't resist. "Sorry, but I'm a jerk with terrible social skills who never listens to anybody."

She sobbed into his shoulder bitterly as he tried to console her. He wiped her tears with his sleeves. "Shush.. it's okay now."

{ Idiot. You're in love with a robot. }

{ That, my dear, is bull[bleep]** }

{ I'm an artificial construct with a tiger's hindbrain wired in. }

"Okay, uh, fine. So you're part cat? Really? Hey, I'm cool with that."

"Y-you are?"

"C'mon, do you know how many guys would give their right arm for a hot catgirl?"

"Rodney.."

"I looked up the _alba tigris felesium_ in the public database. Yeah, it's ferocious when attacking or chasing prey, but it's very cuddly during its downtime. I saw a pic of a pride in the wild, a big happy fur pile. Really cute."

"Oh.."

 _I'm so embarrassed. I completely forgot that picture was in the database!_

"Hey, it's okay. If it bothers you that much I won't tell anybody. We can erase it."

She froze. Then she pulled back. He asked, "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Y-you actually heard that?"

"Heard what?"

She stood back.

 _Rodney, what is two plus two?_

"Four."

She quickly raised her limiter to 100%.

 _What is nine plus six?_

"Fifteen."

She removed her limiter and pressed firmly on both sides of it with her thumbs and forefingers, hard, then she clamped it down firmly on her head like a vise.

 _What is 47,865 times 69,823?_

After a few moments he said, "3,342,077,895."

She took another step back, her eyes wide in panic. "No, no, no, no."

"What's the matter?"

She started pacing back and forth. "No, this is impossible.. I'm not ready.. I'm not ready!"

"What? Tell me?" He held her again.

"Rodney, we have the Bond. It already formed between us. But it shouldn't happen this fast. It can't. It's backwards.."

"Whoa, stop. What's a 'Bond'?"

She started pacing again. "It's wrong.. the order is backwards. How? We haven't even.. well.."

"Huh? Haven't what?"

She looked at him sheepishly. "Do I need to explain it?"

"Oh. Oh! You mean, we haven't, uh, that?"

She blushed, "Yes.."

She started fretting again. "It's too soon. Oh dear.. uh.. maybe there's still time." She rushed up to him. "Rodney, we really need to talk. I mean we REALLY need to talk. Right now, before anything else happens."

"Okay. Sure. Go ahead."

She looked around. "No, not here. Things might, uh.. Not outside. Oh.. I can't take you to my.. uh.."

He grinned. "Your lair?"

"Oh stop it! You know that place is forbidden. I'm serious! All right, let's go to your quarters. Oh, I just hope no one sees us."

"Uh sure. It's kinda messy though."

She grabbed his hand. "Let's go. Hurry."

* * *

He opened the door to his quarters and they went inside. He closed the door behind him.

She felt it. "Rodney.. that.. uh, oh my, I didn't realize. Do all human males have an urge that strong?"

He looked embarrassed. "We're alone together in my quarters, and I can't help thinking about it. I'm really sorry."

She held her hand to her head. "It's affecting me.. your thoughts. Quick, sit on the bed. We need to talk, I mean really talk, before this goes any further."

He sat next to her. "Okay."

"Rodney, we have some big problems. Uhm.. oh.."

{ Meredith, I love you, but look at me. }

"Yeah, you're beautiful. And I can tell that you.. Wow, I can feel it. You like me that much?"

{ Yes, I do. But you aren't listening. I said LOOK at me. Look! }

"Okay. You're gorgeous."

{ No! I mean my appearance! This is how I look! This is how I will always look! I will never change. I will never age. My appearance is fixed. }

"Okay. Awesome."

{ Rodney, you don't understand. Lanteans mate for life. Once we cross that.. that line.. there's no going back, you understand? So what happens when you are 50? 60? 70? When your hair turns white? Well, what's left of it.. }

"Ha ha."

{ I'm being serious! What happens when you get wrinkly and old and I still look like, well, like this? }

"Is that a problem for you?"

{ For me? No, of course not. I love you, and I always will. }

"Then it's fine."

{ But.. }

"Hey, everybody will think I'm an old rich guy with a trophy wife or something. It's cool."

{ All right. But what about how I was made? I'm not even sure what I am exactly. I still think I'm probably a robot, one with all sorts of weird wiring. Meredith, whatever I am, I know I'm not a real person. }

He held her while they were still sitting on the bed together. "Oh you are definitely a person. You're full of doubts and worries. You get scared. You're as human as I am. And you are oh so definitely a woman. You're a beautiful, amazing, awesome woman, who is so smart and beautiful and makes my mind spin so much that I swear I must still be dreaming. I love every minute of every day that I'm with you, and I want to be with you the rest of my life. Look, I know you're kind of young and inexperienced with some of this, but.."

{ That's the other thing. My age. }

"Well, yeah, so you're 10,000 years old. So what? I don't care. But you're actually what, about 20 or so?"

She looked down. { No. }

"How old are you?"

{ I grew up in 12 months. After my people left I stayed in the stasis pod most of the time. }

"Oh.. I see. So you're *really* young. I hope you're legal, heh, because I'm not a pedo.."

{ Ha ha. No. Look, at some point I went mad and I don't remember much. But I do remember that just before I entered the pod for the last time I took a chronometer reading, then I subtracted the log time for the stasis pod from it. }

"Okay, what was the difference?"

{ About 400 years. }

He stared at her. "What?"

{ I don't feel 400 years old. Nothing happened for years and years. I just wandered the dark hallways back and forth like a ghost. I had no new experiences, no new memories. I don't feel psychologically that old. But you need to know that biologically I am over ten times older than you are. }

"I swear you don't look a day over 200. Okay, fine. So you're a cougar. Hey, I'm cool with that. Fits the cat motif too."

{ Meredith, there's also my duty. I'm still the Guardian of Atlantis. That will not change. I have a solemn duty that I am obligated to fulfill. You have to understand, and you have to agree, that if a situation arises where I am forced to choose between saving the city and saving you.. }

He interrupted her. "You save the city. Otherwise I will be very pissed."

{ Oh good, I'm glad you understand. }

"And if a situation arises where I have to choose between saving the everyone in the city or saving you, I'll save the city."

{ Good. Because otherwise I would get very angry with you... }

"Oh, oh, let me finish the line! 'And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.' Heh."

"Is that a reference to something?"

"Nevermind. Anything else?"

{ Uhm.. one more thing.. }

"Shoot."

{ I.. I don't know if I can give you children. }

He blinked his eyes. "Huh?"

{ I know. This is embarrassing. I know that I have all the right body parts, but it was never intended for me.. and we're genetically different.. }

McKay made a face. "Ick, I hate kids."

{ You'll love kids. Your own at least. I know it. }

"No I won't! I hate kids!"

{ You just think you do. I know you. You're a child at heart too, and I know that you would be a wonderful father. Especially if it was a boy. I can already imagine you playing with toy blocks on the carpet with your son, showing him how to build a cantilevered bridge at age 2. I can share my mental image of you in that very scene. I think it's rather funny and cute. }

"Oh geez.."

{ No, I agree with you, now is not the time. Not here, not now. Not while we are at war. }

"Okay. Well, is there anything else you need to confess before this barrel goes over the waterfall?"

"Uh.. I don't think so. Remember, under Lantean law we will be a legally mated pair. The Bond will cement, and this will be forever."

"Okay. But this is a mixed marriage. If we do this, I think we gotta do this right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, normally I'd take you to Las Vegas and we'd go to The Chapel of Love. Fast and easy, nice and quick."

He surprised her. "Are you talking about human marriage?"

"Sure, why not? Like I said, if we're doing this we should do it right. 'Till death do us part' and all that. You said this is for life, right?"

She touched his face. "Oh yes.."

"Plus you get great government benefits. Man, you should see the size of my life insurance policy."

"It won't matter." She looked down. "Honestly, I don't think either of us is going to survive this war."

"Then we're in it together. I'll watch your back, and you watch mine. Just don't scratch me too hard with those kitty claws, okay?"

She laughed and hugged him.

* * *

Weir's office was a bit crowded with McKay, Sheppard, the Guardian, her bridesmaid Laura Cadman, Teyla, Lorne, Zelenka, and Weir all in attendance.

Kurosawa's homily was nearing its end.

"Throughout the ages, man has tried to define 'love'. Poems, songs, and books all have been written trying to describe this little four letter word. But the best description I have found comes from God Himself, since He is the Author of love. In His Word in First Corinthians, Chapter 13, it describes the kind of love that must characterize your lives if you are to live in joy and harmony and honor with each other, and also before God. Listen to what it says:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

"These are true words of wisdom. They transcend both time and space, for they are eternal and everlasting."

Kurosawa then addressed the happy couple directly. "Rodney and Sara, since you have consented together in holy matrimony, and have pledged yourselves to each other by your solemn vows and by the giving of rings, and have declared your commitment of love before God and these witnesses, I now pronounce you husband and wife in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Those whom God hath joined together, let no man separate."

She smiled. "Rodney, you may kiss the bride."

He did. Everyone cheered. The happy couple turned as Kurosawa announced, "I am happy to introduce to you all Mr. Rodney McKay and Mrs. Sara McKay." Another cheer.

Sheppard said. "Well, it's about damn time. Rodney, Sara, congrats." The best man shook McKay's hand and hugged the bride. The rest did their own hugs and handshakes in turn.

After that Sheppard asked, "So, 'Sara', huh?"

McKay explained, "Yeah. I picked it. It's source is a secret."

Sheppard nodded. "It works. I like it."

"Well I'm glad we got your blessing on the name. I guess that makes it official, right?"

Weir walked over. "It is. I already entered Sara McKay into the official staff roster."

Sara asked, "My official title will still be The Guardian of Atlantis?"

"Of course."

Just then Weir's radio crackled.

 _"Doctor Weir?"_

She tapped her mic. "What is it, Chuck?"

 _"I am sorry to interrupt, but the long range sensors just picked up something."_

"What is it?"

 _"A fleet of Wraith hive ships is heading in this direction. About one week out."_

"All right, thank you. We'll be right out."

Sara gave Rodney a sardonic look. "So much for our honeymoon. Let's go."

He kept complaining as they walked out together. "You know, this just is my luck. I mean seriously, how come I never catch a break around here.."

* * *

 **A/N:**

* Feles=kitty, tigris=tiger, alba=white, sara=jump (also latin salire)

** In this story words enclosed in [brackets] are elisions to bleep-out swear words or to redact text.


	10. Chapter 10: Wedding Night

**A/N:**

 **Caution:** Limes ahead.

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Wedding Night**

 _Earth, United States, Montana_

A large black Ford Lincoln Navigator drove up to the front gate of a ranch that was nestled in the foothills of the Lewis Range, about 60 miles west of Great Falls. The SUV pulled over to the grassy shoulder just off the narrow dusty dirt road, and a man wearing an official navy-blue USAF military dress uniform and dark sunglasses stepped out of the driver's side of the vehicle. He was carrying an attache case with a chain that was connected to a metal cuff on his wrist.

The USAF officer took in the impressive view of the broad expanse of the Rocky Mountains that could be seen to the west, sweeping from north to south across the entire horizon. He walked up to the gate and opened it, being careful not to touch the electric fence. As he did so he felt something squishy give way under his right dress shoe. He looked down and muttered a curse word as he tried to scrap the cow pie out from under his shoe using one of the stone edgings that lined a well tended gravel walkway that led up to the ranch house.

He walked the 50 yards to the front porch, climbed it, and approached a screen door with a painted frame. The inner wooden door was already open. He knocked on the doorframe. "Hello?"

A young boy ran up and asked through the screen door, "Who're you?"

The USAF General bent over and smiled through the mesh screen. "Howdy. I'm here to see your grandpa. Is he in?"

The boy turned and ran back into the house yelling, "Mom! There's an army guy here!"

A short time later a woman wearing an apron opened the screen door. "Oh hello. You must be here to see Dillon. He said you were coming. You can walk around back."

The military officer tipped his cap and said, "Thank you, ma'am". He turned around and proceeded to walk around the ranch house, this time being careful not to step into any more cow pies. Upon reaching the rear he saw a man sitting on the back stoop holding a beer. He was in his early 50s* and had a broad build that was more muscular than stocky, which was unusual for someone of his age. He sported a flattop haircut and was wearing a grey tank-top over his bluejeans and cowboy boots. He spotted the USAF officer approaching but did not bother to stand to greet him.

The USAF officer removed his hat and said, "Colonel Everett?"

The man said without getting up, "That's 'Recently Retired Colonel Everett' to you."

"Of course. Hi, I'm Jack O'Neill, US Air Force. Nice to meet you." O'Neill held out his hand.

Instead of shaking it, Everett bent over and reached into the ice cooler that was next to him to put a beer in the offered hand.

O'Neill gratefully took the beer can as he unbuttoned his USAF jacket and loosened his tie. "Thanks. It's hot." He popped open the brew and drank deeply, then he sat on the stoop next to Everett.

"Least I could do for a flyboy General who drove all the way out here just to see an old Marine. It really wasn't necessary, you know. I told you over the phone I just retired."

O'Neill looked out at the back 40 from the rear stoop. "Wow, what a view."

Everett nodded as he also looked out. "Indian summer. First frost was last week. In a few days that whole field will be covered in red wildflowers. It will be red everywhere as far as the eye can see."

"Yeah, I can see why you decided to retire out here."

Everett sipped his beer as he kept looking out at the amazing view. "This stud ranch has been in my family since my grandpa's time. My old man intended for me run it next, but I wanted to get out of this dirthole as fast as I could, so I ran into town and jumped on a bus to the US Marine Corps recruiting center in Great Falls and signed up when I was 17, lied about my age. My old man didn't talk to me for ten years after that. Now look at me, 36 years later I'm right back here again."

"You running it now?"

"Naw, my daughter Carolyn and her husband do that. When I came back last month they gave me the guest room up on the third floor. I help out on the ranch, hunt, play ball with the twins, life's good."

O'Neill pulled on his brew as they continued to watch the skyline of the Rocky Mountains. "I hear yah. I have a fishing cabin in Minnesota. I never get out there often enough."

Everett decided it was time to get to the point. "Sir, I did my stint, got my pension. I'm spending time with my grandkids now."

"Yeah, I know. Look, I didn't want to ask you to come back either, but everyone I talked to says that you were the go-to guy for difficult extractions. Like what happened in Mogadishu, how your team went in to save those guys. I read the book on the plane on the way out here. That was impressive."

"Forget that dumb book. Sheesh, I never should have talked to that New York Times guy. 'Black Hawk Down', what a stupid title."

"You were a hero, Dillon."

"I was just doing my damn job. Yeah I got a commendation letter signed by the President, big deal. A lot of good men died that day, and what did they get out of it? A casket, a flag triangle, and a widow and kids without a father."

"Dillon, your country needs you again. Everything could hang in the balance. I mean it. It's bigger than you could possibly imagine. You don't need to worry about unwanted publicity this time either, because nobody will ever know."

Everett turned and looked at him. He believed himself to be a good judge of character, and he could see that this Air Force General was not BS-ing him. He had heard of General Jack O'Neill, if only by reputation, the head of the oh-so-mysterious 'Department of Homeworld Security', whatever that was. He pulled on his beer again and sighed, "Tell me the situation."

O'Neill dove in. "It's a vital strategic firebase deep in enemy territory. It needs to be defended at all costs until we can send in some critical reinforcements. Ever hear of Dien Bien Phu?"

Everett made a face. "Pfft, that was a total cock-up by the Frogs. They should never have gone in that deep in the first place. Sounds like you flyboys screwed it up too, and now you need us jarheads to go bail your asses out.

"Something like that, yeah."

"So, who was the military idiot who led this expedition?"

"Your pal Marshall Sumner."

"You're [bleeping] me."

"Nope."

That really got Everett's attention. He and Sumner were lifelong friends starting from boot camp in Quantico, where Everett was Sumner's original drill instructor. As a DI he was bemused with Private First Class Marshall Sumner, his oh-so-serious new recruit who spit-polished his boots like mirrors and made his bunk sheet so tight that a quarter coin bounced on it might put a dent in the ceiling with the ricochet.

Everett knew that Sumner was as no-nonsense as they come. He would never, ever, agree to undertake a mission that would waste lives in some futile attempt to hold territory or to engage in some political stunt. Whatever this was, it had real, legitimate, military necessity, and it could very well be as important as O'Neill claimed.

Everett laughed out loud at the thought of rescuing old Tighty Sheets again, "You mean I'd get to bail out Marshall again? The guy still owes me for Kandahar - and he still hasn't paid up yet. Heh, I told him he'd owe me a whole case next time if I ever had to save his ass like that ever again." Everett loved tweaking Sumner because he was such a well known teetotaler.

O'Neill's looked down. "I'm sorry, but he was KIA."

Everett stopped laughing.

He put down his beer and faced O'Neill squarely. "Dammit, why didn't anyone tell me?"

"You know the rules about black ops, Dillon."

"They said that Marsh was in deep somewhere, but.. oh brother. How did it happen?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you. Not unless you're in."

Everett sighed, "Double dammit. Okay, yeah, I'm tempted. I owe it to his wife Marilyn." Everett felt it was the least he could do for the spouse of the man who had once saved his own life in battle.

"But only tempted?"

"Sir, Dien Bien Phu was unwinnable. That's the whole point of studying it, to avoid getting in to that kind of FUBAR situation ever again."

"Well, the analogy isn't perfect this time because we have major relief coming in by air. You'll need to defend the firebase only for four days, not two months."

"Four days to fly in relief? Sir, this is the goddamn 21st century. What kind of airplane are you flying in there, a freakin' dirigible balloon?"

O'Neill opened the locked attache case that was attached to his wrist. "I'll explain everything if you sign these NDAs."

Everett took the offered stack of paper. It was full of densely printed legalese. "Wait, there's got to be at least 100 pages here. What kind of crazy firebase is this?"

"Sign and I'll tell you."

* * *

Everett was sitting in the passenger seat of O'Neill's SUV still reading the ultra-classified briefing materials as the pair headed back to Great Falls, where an unmarked Gulfstream G650 private jet was waiting on the tarmac to fly them to Colorado Springs.

O'Neill was rather surprised at how Everett had so calmly accepted the fact of the Stargate Program and the Department of Homeworld Security, which currently managed a theatre of operations that spanned two galaxies. He started to suspect that perhaps Everett might have already had heard rumors about it. He already had one of the highest security clearances possible outside of the SGC.

The newly re-activated Marine Colonel flipped forward through the many pages of the thick packet of material until he reached the section of the briefing with the After Action Report (AAR) regarding Sumner's KIA.

Everett was incredulous as he read it. "Wait, this says here that Sumner was shot by his own second-in-command officer to avoid interrogation? Is that right?"

"That's what it says. I wasn't there."

"I don't believe it. You never do that. Every US soldier is expected to resist interrogation; it's the most basic part of SERE training. Hell, Marsh taught the SERE course at Quantico himself!"

"All I can tell you is that's what the AAR says. Our info is very limited at this point."

"Who was on the review board for writing the AAR?"

"Nobody. The second-in-command wrote it himself."

"Wait, let me get this straight. This guy wrote his *own* AAR? To justify shooting his own CO? Seriously? That's crazy. It's like a guy in a murder case being allowed to be his own judge!"

"It's the best we could do given the circumstances."

"What's his rep in the chain of command?"

"Uh, well, his record isn't exactly 100% perfect at following every order he's given, but.."

"The guy doesn't follow orders and then he shoots his own CO?"

O'Neill kept driving. "You'll have to ask him yourself. Things out there can get pretty, well, complicated."

"I understand." Everett knew how 'complicated' the hell of combat could be. He had first-hand experience dealing with panicky front-line officers yelling orders to shoot outside of the ROE.

He closed the briefing packet and looked at O'Neill. "Just tell me one thing."

"Which is?"

"Sir, I'm 100% in charge of this op, right? Not this jagoff? It's my show?"

"It's your show. Although I'd advise you to listen him."

"Oh I'll listen to him all right, with all the respect he is due."

* * *

 _Atlantis_

The wedding ceremony in Weir's office quickly broke up as everyone returned to their respective duties. McKay, Sara, Weir, and Sheppard quickly walked over to Chuck's duty station in the gate room.

McKay reached his station first, and he asked Chuck to put up the long range sensors on the large display panel that was mounted on the wall behind them. He was just about to turn around to look at it when the Guardian gripped his arm to stop him.

He asked, "Sara, what's wrong?"

"I.. I can't look. Can you do it for me?"

"Uh, sure." He turned.

Her thoughts kept repeating over and over like a mantra. McKay could feel the waves of desperation coming from her.

 _Please be a trio.. please be a trio.. please be a trio.._

"I count one.. and two.. and three.. and.."

 _Oh no, more than three!_

".. and that's it. Three hive ships."

She opened her eyes. She turned around to look for herself.

Yes, it was three.

She was sobbing, her tears flowing freely.

McKay grew concerned. "Hey, what's wrong? Is a trio that bad?"

Then she grabbed his face with both hands and gave him a deep kiss.

Sheppard drawled, "You know, I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and take a guess that a trio is actually a good thing, right?"

Sara let her new husband's face go and turned back towards Sheppard. "Oh yes, John. It is."

Weir finally spoke up. "Sara, can you explain to the rest of us what a 'trio' is? Why is it so important?"

"Doctor Weir, it means that we might actually have a chance to survive beyond the end of the week."

Weir felt encouraged. "Really? How so?"

The Guardian explained, "Three hive ships - a trio - indicates that the Wraith are being cautious. Apparently they do not yet realize that we have neither a shield nor any capital ships of our own."

"Yes, keeping the fact hidden that we had no shield and are basically defenseless was our biggest secret."

"It held. They don't know."

Sheppard nodded, "I get it. They're just probing us. Three ships indicates that they're intended to be sacrificial pawns. The Wraith don't care if they lose a few initial ships at the beginning of a major operation."

"Yes, John, but only one, maybe two, of them are actually sacrificial. They will jump in relatively far out from Lantea, then fly in slowly on sublight engines to see what we will do in response. It is indeed a probe of our defenses, and if we succeed in destroying the first ship, the second will attempt to counter whatever defense had defeated the first one. If we then destroy that one also, the third ship will turn around and depart.."

McKay jumped in. ".. so it can report how we defeated the first two, right?"

"Yes, Rodney."

"So we have to stop only two ships."

"Yes. If the Wraith had intended to wage an all-out assault on our position, they would have sent in a _duodecim_ \- twelve hive ships - and they would jump in right on top of us with all twelve main cannons blazing down on us simultaneously, their standard fleet tactic against a hardened planetary target. If you had counted 12 ships I would have despaired."

"So how we can stop two ships?"

"I don't know yet. We only have the 36 drones left. I might barely be able to disable one hive ship with 36 although it would be very difficult. Destroying two is impossible. And then, uh.." She swayed slightly.

Weir said, "Sara, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I can keep going." She swayed again, and this time McKay held her up.

Weir was concerned. "Sara, you still need to replenish the reserves that bug took from you. All you've had so far is an IV glucose drip in the infirmary."

As soon as the Guardian awoke on the cot in the infirmary she had ripped off the IV line and had run out as fast as she could to encamp on the North Tower. Then McKay climbed up for his reunion with her, followed by her many confessions, and finally their impromptu wedding. She barely had time to change out of her dirty battle uniform into her sundress just before the ceremony. She hadn't had time to eat anything beyond a bag of peanuts offered by Kurosawa.

"Have you even slept at all?"

McKay spoke for her. "No, she hasn't."

The Guardian pleaded, "I'm okay, really. I can keep going.."

Weir addressed them both. "No, you need to rest. It's getting late and I want you both to have at least eight hours of sleep minimum. I have other things to discuss with Sheppard and Teyla regarding the status of the Alpha Site. We'll pick this up at tomorrow's staff meeting at 09:00.

McKay offered, "I'll take her to her North Tower hideout and come back."

Weir was firm, "No. You both need to rest."

Sheppard chimed in. "Good grief, Rodney, this is your wedding night. Go."

"But.."

"For crying out loud take your wife with you while she can still walk. Don't worry, we'll have some food sent in."

McKay protested, "But I should really help with the invasion defense plan.."

"Rodney, take her out of here. She can barely stand. You two can come back in the morning."

"But I really think.."

Sheppard was firm. "Look, McKay, if you don't escort her to your quarters right how I am going to have two of my Marines pick you both up and carry you down there then have them stand guard outside until morning. Capice?"

McKay finally conceded defeat and took his swaying wife away.

* * *

The pair were laying together in McKay's bed in his quarters, flat on their backs, side by side, fully clothed, each of them holding their hands clasped in front of them separately.

Now, a neutral observer might consider it rather strange for a pair of newlyweds to behave this way during their very first time in bed together, but they did not. After all, it was their most comfortable position together.

McKay observed the featureless white ceiling that was above them. "Hmm, the sky is overcast today."

The Guardian was wide awake and feeling much better, wearing her battlesuit sans cloak. She had just finished wolfing down the last of a huge Roast Mastadge brisket that had been sent to their room courtesy of Teyla, a special delivery straight from the communal kitchens on New Athos.

A bottle of Athosian Port was still on the table. The Guardian had looked at it with some curiosity when it had arrived, opening the bottle and sniffing it, then announcing that it contained poison.

McKay had grabbed the bottle and took a whiff and realized it was that damnable Athosian hooch again. In the past that illicit liquor had kept popping up in hidden stashes all over the base. Teyla and Halling had banned it, of course, but someone had kept sneaking it in, bribed no doubt with chocolate and other rare essentials for the hard life on New Athos.

This time Teyla had made an exception and approved one bottle of the concoction to be delivered to the newlyweds, no doubt at Sheppard's request, with him thinking it would probably help the happy couple move things along.

McKay took one whiff and snatched the bottle away from his wife, quickly replacing the cap and telling her sternly that she must never, ever, drink ethanol, knowing full well how disastrous the impairment and loss of judgment by the living superweapon could be. The Guardian responded that she had no intention of drinking such an obvious poison and was grateful that he had no intention of doing it either.

The newlyweds continued to lay on the bed side by side in their clothes while looking up at the overcast 'sky'.

The Guardian was still busy musing about the pending invasion.

"Let's see.. we have 36 drones left, 11 jumpers - the one we returned is damaged - plus your Marines armed with fifty six P90s, twenty two M16s, two .50 caliber armor piercing guns, various pistols, knives.. what else do we have?"

McKay spoke up. "Kit, just relax."

She turned, "Kit?"

"It's a term of endearment. Do you like it? I just made it up."

{ Is that a reference to.. you know..? }

"Yeah."

She frowned. { I don't know if I like that or not. }

"Oh c'mon, Sara, it fits you perfectly. It'll be my secret pet name for you."

"Now you're calling me your pet? All right, now I'm offended."

"No, that's just an expression. A 'pet name' is a term of endearment."

She sighed, { Meredith, if you feel you have to call me that, then fine, but please, please, always keep it hidden. Nobody knows about my _tigris felesium_ engrams. It's my most embarrassing secret. }

"Uh, actually.."

{ Meredith, I'm serious. Whatever other embarrassing secrets about me might tumble out because of this relationship, you have to keep that one absolutely private. I could never live with that one getting out. }

"Why do you think it's so bad?"

{ Don't you see? It reveals that I have a hidden primal side. In Lantean society genetic tampering is already considered beyond the pale, but to have the engrams of an.. an animal.. spliced in to my head? If anyone knew that I could secretly be so.. so.. primal.. it would be considered absolutely shocking, horrid. I'm sure your people would agree. }

"No they wouldn't."

{ Yes they would. I'm just a walking perversion, genetically tampered, potentially wild and uncontrollable.. if other Lanteans had known they would have locked me away in a cage for life, assuming I would be allowed to live at all. }

"It's okay. I don't care."

She turned and tightened her gloved grip on his hand. { I know. You don't give a whit how weird and perverted my existence is, and that means so much to me. }

"Right. I don't. I really don't."

{ I know, my love. For some unfathomable reason you even seem to relish it. I can sense your thrill. It's okay, I won't tell anyone. }

"Uh, it's not.."

{ I know, I know, perversions like that can be thrilling. Don't worry, I'll keep your secret. No one will ever know how perverted you are. }

"Hey, I'm not perverted! And neither are you!"

{ Rodney, be quiet! What if someone hears you! }

"Kit, c'mon, just stop a sec. Look.."

{ Well, obviously for me I have the excuse that I didn't ask for this.. }

"Kit, stop! First, it's fine. Second, they already know."

She let go his of hand and sat up in alarm.

"What?"

"I said, they already know. Sheppard knew right away, and he told Beckett and Weir."

She bent over and grabbed his shoulders. "Rodney, please tell me you are joking."

"Sorry, my love, they know. Sheppard figured it out right after your first mission when you had sniffed out and chased after those Wraith. He said you were behaving just like an apex predator - he even said outright that you were acting like a tiger."

She held a gloved hand to her face in shock. "No.."

"Hey, relax. It's okay. Beckett did a neural scan on your brain the very first day and spotted all the neural hacks and rewiring that they did to your brain."

She cringed and curled herself into a ball on the bed.

He saw her mortified reaction and tried to console her as best he could. "Look, it's okay. C'mere." He sat up and gently pulled her head into his lap as she continued to cringe.

{ I'm so incredibly embarrassed. Rodney, how can I face them? }

He stroked her hair. "Honestly, it's fine. Don't worry about it. They know and Sheppard still thinks the world of you, so does Weir, so does everybody. Okay, there was some initial concern about whether you could control it or not, and you can. And they think it's an asset, not a liability. Weir even said so. She loves that you are a walking Wraith Terminator, and she told everyone how much we need that if we're going to survive this."

He kept petting her hair. "It's part of you, your nature. It's who you are. I love you, the whole package. And I know you won't hurt me no matter how carried away you get. Remember that pic with the cuddle pile? It'll be fine."

She sat up again, even more mortified now. "Oh! That is so embarrassing!"

 _I got a catgirl.. oh man.. I definitely must be dreaming_

She grew angry. "Rodney, I heard that!"

"Huh? Oh? You did?"

Now it was McKay's turn to be embarrassed. "I'm sorry.."

She moved to her original supine position on the bed and re-folded her hands primly and looked up at the ceiling again. { I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's just thought leakage. It happens sometimes. We can just ignore it. }

"Sorry. I can't help it.."

"It's okay." She sighed, "I still think it's pretty perverted though."

"Uh, can we change the topic here?"

"Gladly. Now Rodney, help me out here. How do we take out two hive ships given the city's current resources?"

This was not the kind of topic that McKay was hoping to switch to. "Do we really have to do this now?"

"Yes, Rodney. The Wraith are coming. We only have 7 days."

 _So much for our wedding night. She gets so obsessed sometimes. Well, I do too, I guess._

"Exactly, Rodney, so help me here."

"Aw crap. This thought leakage stuff is just going to keep happening, right?"

She was feeling churlish now. "Yes. Get used to it."

 _Aw gawd.. everything will come out. That Christmas party, dad's belt, Jean hating me, and.. oh no you heard that._

{ It's okay. It's just thought leakage. Perfectly normal. }

 _Great, everything will come out. Was this a mistake? Wait! I didn't mean to think that!_

She rolled over and held his hand again. "Stop. You're cycling."

{ Rodney, stop fretting. Relax and quiet your mind. Shush. Remember, we're committed for life. We're locked. Nothing that leaks out of your head will change that now. There is no possible thought that might tumble out of your amazing brain that will push me away from you. }

"We're locked? You sure?"

{ Yes. Uh, we will be, when we move up to the next level.. }

 _I am not ready for this! What if I hurt him? I'd never forgive myself. His perversion is so strong. He'll hate me!_

She did a facepalm. "Ugh. I should be able to control that."

"Hey, it's okay. We're even now."

{ I'm so sorry, Rodney. }

"This is going to just keep on happening between us, isn't it.."

{ No, it's just thought leakage. I'm only doing it because I'm really frazzeled with everything that's happened during the past 36 hours. Normally only young Lantean children suffer thought leakage. Yes, it is very embarrassing. It's like wetting yourself in public. We quickly learn to control it. }

"I see.."

{ Don't worry, I'll teach you some mental exercises so you'll be able to control it like I can do, at least when I'm not so frazzled. We'll practice together. You're a quick study, and I am sure I'll soon have you whipped into shape with a mind that is just as disciplined as mine, like a real Lantean. You'll be fine. }

"You think? I don't see how. Stray thoughts are impossible to stop. It's like elephants."

"Elephants? What do you mean?"

"I mean elephants. Here's a test: Don't think of elephants. I just said the word 'elephants'. Now you're thinking of elephants, see? It's impossible for you to stop thinking about elephants now."

She gave him a passive look. { Nothing. }

"Aw, really?"

{ You're going to eventually need this training. It might be vitally important some day. }

"Why? I mean beyond the embarrassment factor?"

"Rodney, here is a test: Do not think of me as a slinky catgirl with kitty ears and a tail. If you do I will instantly die, so you must not think of it. Remember, I will die if you imagine me that way."

 _Uh.. dirty gym socks! Baseball! That would be so hot! The prime factors of 457,896,341! Argh, dammit._

"Yeah, we need to work on you. There are exercises that I am going to teach you."

"Exercises.."

{ Mental ones. Oh, and there are other ones specifically for couples who are trying to increase mental intimacy. We can concentrate on those first if you like. }

"Really?"

{ Yes. Endless Lantean books have been written on the subject, mostly aimed at young people. The goal is to reach a level of mental intimacy that finally sublimates into the physical level. In Lantean society this is considered one of the pinnacles of mental achievement, to be able to reach a level of mental discipline that is so high, to mold one's mind so thoroughly, that it perfectly meshes with your mate's mind like two puzzle pieces snapping together. And the Bond is the final crowning achievement; that is why it is so greatly celebrated in our society. }

"But we already seem to have somehow hit that top level, which is now quite embarrassingly obvious.."

{ I know. I don't understand it either. It's totally backwards. Somehow we jumped right to the Bond without passing through the intermediate levels first. We should have been getting mentally intimate first, slowly, gradually, for months, before getting anywhere near the physical level - which we haven't even begun - much less reaching the Bond. }

"Months?"

{ Yes. The future couple sometimes will not realize the mental alignment is even happening until it reaches a certain point. }

"Uh.."

{ It takes hundreds of hours, sometimes thousands, to get there. I don't understand it. }

"I hate to break this to you, but I think we already did that."

{ What? }

"Our endless debates about astrophysics and quantum mechanics."

She sat up. "Huh?"

"Remember all those arguments? We'd bicker all the time, and you'd shove your way past me and move the formulas around on the imaging table, then I'd shove you back and re-arrange the formulas again?"

{ Wait.. }

"Remember on the rooftop when you confessed to me how you felt so relaxed whenever we geeked out together? You even stretched out like a cat."

 _And it was so hot_

She ignored the leak. "Are.. are you saying that all our debates about quantum physics were.. were.." She couldn't say it out loud. { .. a form of foreplay? }

He chuckled, "Hey, why not? For two supernerds like us? I mean, it's possible, right?"

{ I never thought of it like that. My word.. you might be on to something there. All right, I can see it now. But I still don't understand how we leap-frogged right over physical intimacy straight to the Bond though. }

"Oh, I think we were getting physical all right, all that casual touching we were doing without realizing it. Normally if I was standing that close to a pretty girl I'd stammer and freak out. With you I didn't care. I honestly didn't even think of you as a girl during those debates or any other time we worked together closely, like when we worked so hard on the storm problem."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It was only afterward when I sat by myself did I realize that was I getting strong feelings for you. Then it scared the hell out of me because I'm such a loser, and that if you knew what I was thinking I was afraid it would push you away and we wouldn't be friends anymore.."

She sighed and looked down. { That's exactly what I was thinking. I didn't think you'd ever want to be with a deviant like me. }

"You did? I never had an inkling."

{ I was thinking that when I was by myself, not when I was with you. I noticed you did get nervous with me a few times. I'm just better at compartmentalizing my thoughts than you, that's all. That is something I'm going to teach you. }

"You will?"

{ I have every confidence in you, my love. }

 _I'll teach him; this will work. I am so thankful I didn't give in to John_

She sat up suddenly and stared at the wall.

He simply said one word: "When?"

She couldn't face him. { The day after I woke up. Oh Meredith, I'm so sorry.. }

He tried to assure her. "Hey, it's just thought leakage, don't worry about it."

{ Meredith, I love you. John means nothing to me. }

"I know, and I believe you. Just tell me the what happened."

{ Well, I had planned to tour the city on my first full day back, and he decided to come along. He brought a picnic basket.. }

McKay was incredulous. "A picnic basket? And you didn't find that just a little bit odd?"

{ Meredith, I didn't know any better! Somehow he managed to fool me about his intentions even with the mind link.. }

She mentally kicked herself. She wasn't planning to reveal the mind link yet.

"What? You linked minds? Kit!"

She pleaded, { I'm sorry! He tricked me! }

"Sorry for snapping, it's okay.. I'm sure you were completely innocent."

 _Like a minnow against a Great White Shark_

McKay was becoming agitated. "Dammit! Argh, I can't believe it. It happened the day after you woke up?" He shook his head, "It's like he is goddamned Captain Kirk!"

She tilted her head. "Captain Kirk? Who is that?" She started to look up the reference on her imager when he gently lowered her arm back down.

"It's just a character in a sci-fi TV show, forget it." He continued to hold her arm as he looked at her gloved hand. He shifted his hand as he inspected her white glove. "You know, I only touched your bare hand once, in the ceremony. It felt so incredibly warm."

{ My high metabolism. I thought the ceremony was beautiful. It says so much about your human culture. }

"There's no seam. How does it come off?"

{ Here, I'll show you. } She turned her hand palm up and pressed on her wrist with her other thumb. A gap appeared between the glove and sleeve and she deftly worked her thumb around the seal and pulled it off. Then she repeated the process with her other glove.

She raised her hand with its long delicate fingers as she turned it around in front of him for his inspection. Her ring glinted on her third finger.

{ Thank you for this. It's so beautiful. }

When he originally offered it to her, he did not have the heart to tell her that it was just a stainless steel joint sleeve for a metal pipe fitting.

{ I will never remove this as long as I live. }

She then proceeded to put her gloves back on and laid back down on the bed in the cloud-watching position, her gloved fingers clasped together primly as she looked up at the ceiling.

She switched to speaking aloud. "Anyway, I want to get back to figuring out how we're going to beat the trio."

"Huh? The trio? Oh yeah."

"Rodney, 36 drones is not enough for even one hive ship. I suppose we could cannibalize the drones in the jumpers.."

McKay clasped his own fingers and looked up. Back to business. "How many drones do we have left total, including the jumpers?"

"I checked. Three jumpers still have the full compliment of six, three in each pod. There are only five others in the rest."

"So 59 total. How many do you need to take out a hive ship?"

"Fewer than you think. In my VR simulation runs I managed to kill one with only 50, carefully targeted, with no dart screen to stop me. But that was the exception. The standard for an elite operator is 100-200. So at best we might get one if we're really lucky."

"Only 50? Wow, those drones are tougher than I thought."

"Yes. They are designed specifically to kill Wraith ships. The hulls of Wraith ships are organic, made of a reinforced calcium lattice, not dissimilar to human bone but much stronger, and also much, much thicker. Our drones are constructed of a naquadah and molybdenum alloy that can pierce 50mm of heavy armor plating or a meter of Wraith hull material. We send them in sequence hitting the same point repeatedly, so they are very effective."

"They're tough little buggers."

"Oh yes. It's a pity your people had wasted so many on Earth against the Goa'uld mothership. According to the SGC report you had fired almost all of the drones stored in our Antarctic defense station, over 2000, all at once. Such a colossal waste."

"Well, we didn't know what we were doing at the time."

"Rodney, those drones are irreplaceable. The drone manufacturing facility was destroyed early in the war. There is no way to manufacture any more now."

"So what happens after they are fired?"

"The lead ones are always destroyed immediately. The follow-ons drill deep inside, and eventually the rest just puncture through the ship and fly out the back. A skilled operator will cause them to re-swarm and dive again and again until they run out of power."

"And then?"

"They are expended."

"No way to re-use them, huh?"

"Not feasible. They travel at such high speeds that they end up flying off into deep space, essentially lost." She sighed, "Only 59 left. There is so much junk up there it will be hard to target the hive ship even if we had more."

"Naw, the debris is way down now. After 10,000 years all that stuff decayed their orbits and burned up in the atmosphere, or went into the sun, or got ejected out of the system."

"Rodney, the amount of wreckage was massive. That final battle destroyed over two dozen hive ships and countless Wraith cruisers. We lost all of our remaining battleships, our last two defense platforms, everything. All of our space capability was destroyed. We fired thousands and thousands and thousands of drones from the city and from our battleships. Our weapon defense platforms sliced almost a dozen Wraith ships in half. The wreckage was colossal. It's a total mess up there."

"No, it's all been swept up by now. Like I said, the orbits either decayed or got kicked out to deep space long ago. The rest settled into the Lagrangian points."

"The Lagrangian points? I forgot about those."

The Lagrangian points were the five natural locations in space between an orbiting satellite and its parent body where asteroids and other debris tended to collect. Essentially they were low-energy 'depressions' in space.

In this case the five Lagrangian, or L points, surrounded Lantea in its orbit around its sun. The first point, L1, is the most intuitive to understand, being the point between Lantea and its sun where the gravity of the two bodies cancelled each other out, about 1.5 million kilometers inward from Lantea. The second, L2, was located on the opposite side of Lantea, 1.5 million kilometers farther out, where Lantea's gravity cancelled out the higher orbit of a given object. It was the most strategic point from a military perspective, the 'high ground' above the planet.

L3 was on the far side of the side of the sun and was useless militarily, while L4 and L5 were co-located along the same orbit as Lantea, about one third of the way ahead and one third of the way behind the position of the planet. This was the location of the so-called 'Trojan' asteroids that tended to collect in those points. Lantea had four weapons platforms at L1, L2, L4, and L5.

McKay sighed, "Man, those Lagrangian points have to be huge junkyards by now."

The Guardian closed her eyes as she imagined it. "Yes, the final battles were a carnage of destruction. We destroyed over 24 hive ships, losing our last 8 battleships on our side. After 10,000 years a lot of remaining debris is still out there."

McKay sat up. "Thousands of drones were floating around the system, all dead.."

The Guardian's eyes popped open. ".. but many were still fully intact.."

".. just simply out of power.. "

She sat up and she grabbed him. ".. until after 10,000 years they had slowed down .."

He grabbed her right back. ".. and drifted into the Lagrangian points."

"Ita! Ita!" She jumped on the bed. "We can try to salvage them from the Lagrangian points, collect as many as we can, sift through and find the ones with minimal damage or that just have no power, then recharge them back in their bays. There are thousands of them!"

{ Oh Meredith. }

She threw him down on the bed, straddling him, pinning him flat on his back using her thighs and her hips.

{ Meredith, I love you so much. }

He smiled underneath her. "Wanna take your gloves off now?"

She quickly did.

He just smiled. "Kit, what am I thinking now?"

{ Meredith, oh.. are all humans like this? }

{ Heh, pretty much. We humans all have our primal side. }

She remembered the surreptitious looks that she had sometimes felt in the mess hall, along with the occasional green-tinged feelings of lust that had forced their way past her limiter sometimes when she walked by a table full of young men.

{ And human women can feel this way too? The way I'm feeling now? }

{ Yeah, I think. I'm guessing you Lanteans all feel it at this point; you just suppress it better than we do with all your mental discipline stuff. }

She was breathing heavily. { Meredith, I.. }

{ Let go. }

"But I might hurt you.."

"No you won't."

"My animal side.."

"No, it's your human side. It's not your cat, it's you. They wouldn't program this into your genetics."

She sat up straight and lectured him. "Rodney, my genetics are 100% pure Lantean, a perfect selection of genes with no negative recessive traits or genetic defects whatsoever. The tigris engrams were simply implanted surgically."

"Oh. Still, there's no reason to include it. This is you."

She nodded as she allowed her feelings to well up from deep within herself and wash over her mind. She pushed him down again on the bed with her hips.

 _My Rodney_

Then he realized something. "Crap, I forgot protection."

"Protection?"

He explained it mentally.

She tightened her straddle on him, { It's not a problem. I'm a pre-Ascendant, remember? }

"You mean.."

{ I can't get pregnant unless I want to. }

"Oh wow.."

{ Meredith, sit up. I want to see you. } He did.

{ Raise your arms. } He did.

She lifted his blue t-shirt up over him, pulling it over his head.

Her eyes were like saucers.

She was pointing at something. At first he thought it was behind him.

He turned and looked behind himself. "Huh? Is something back there?"

She kept pointing.

He turned back to her and asked, "Kit, what is it?"

"You!"

She was pointing at him.

"Who, me?"

"Yes, you!"

"What?"

"That!" She was pointing at his chest.

"Huh?"

"Fur!"

"Where?"

"There!"

He looked down at his chest.

"Yeah, so?"

"Furry!"

"Oh, I see. Sorry about that. I got a lot of chest hair. I didn't realize it bothered you so much. I guess I can shave it off."

"No!"

"No?"

"Fur!"

"So..?"

"You're a secret animal!"

"Huh?"

"Just like me!"

She knocked him over, rubbing her cheek on his chest. "Oh, it smells so.. so primal.. so animal.."

She pulled back, her face shining at him. { Don't worry, I'll never reveal your secret. }

"Kit.."

She pinned him down again.

{ Meredith, I.. I don't know if I can control this much longer.. }

He chuckled, "Go for it."

{ Are you sure? }

He gave his mental consent. Her breathing quickened until she was panting.

{ Meredith, you're.. you're an animal.. }

She reached for the hidden tab under her garment and pulled it down to reveal alabaster skin.

{ .. just like me! }

She pounced.

* * *

The next morning McKay and the Guardian explained their plan to Sheppard and Weir.

The Guardian was finishing up. ".. and there are magnetic grapples and nets down in sublevel 6 that we can use. We assign all of your ATA-capable pilots to fly all the working jumpers to salvage as many dead drones from the Lagrangian points as we can, then recharge them in their bays using the naquadah generators. What do you think?"

McKay was grinning. "I can't take 100% credit for this. It was a team effort."

Weir was amazed. "This is incredible, to think that there might be thousands of salvageable drones. You're right, we might actually live through this."

Sheppard nodded, "That's a heckuva plan. I'll call in our ATA pilots and get Grodin's team to bring up the grapples and nets. But still.."

McKay said, "Hmm?"

Sheppard was shaking his head. "McKay, that's all you two did last night?"

The Guardian protested, "But John, this is important.."

Sheppard ignored her as he addressed McKay. "Dang it McKay, do you know how hard it was for Teyla and me to get that roasted Mastadge and that bottle of port on such short notice? I specifically ordered you to take care of your wife and give her a proper wedding night!"

The Guardian said brightly, "John, coming up with the plan *was* our wedding night. The resulting sexual encounter was incredible."

{ Kit, stop! Too much information! }

{ It is? }

{ Yes! }

{ Oh, that's right, Laura warned me about oversharing mating information with third parties. I forgot. I'm sorry.. }

McKay tried to smile weakly.

Sheppard finally said dryly, "Yep, you two are freaks." He turned and slapped McKay on the back. "C'mon, let's go do this."

They all left together.

* * *

* According to the Stargate Wikia website, Colonel Dillon Everett was born in July, 1951. The siege took place in 2005, which would make him about 54 at the time.


	11. Chapter 11: The Siege (Part 1)

**A/N:**

 **Caution:** Limes. (Remember they are married.)

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The Siege (Part 1)**

The Guardian entered her secret sanctuary to pick up her personal kit for her move-in to McKay's quarters. She found her white duffel bag and filled it with her small number of personal items: her sundress, sunhat and sandals, a roll of extra fabric for repairs, some basic toiletries, her spare limiter, and a few small secret items hidden in the lining of the bag. She put the strap over her shoulder and slung the bag across her back.

As she turned she paused and looked at the access point to the inner sanctum of the Forbidden Archives. Since her awakening she had been inside that secret place only once, to take inventory. She did not know when she might return again so she decided to go inside for one final inspection.

She lowered her duffel bag to the floor and approached a blank wall. On the adjacent wall was an 'X' symbol. She made some complex hand motions and heard the expected faint rumbling noises behind the blank wall as she waited for the dimensional interlocks to align. The symbol changed from 'X' to 'O'. She then teleported to the access point that was behind the wall. At the access point she verified that the dimensional interlocks were in place, then she crossed the glowing threshold.

She was now inside a featureless room that existed in a tiny pocket of subspace that was outside of the normal universe. She knew that just before the city's self-destruct sequence would destroy the city, the access point would permanently scramble the dimensional interlocks, the pocket would disconnect, and its contents would be forever lost to the physical world.

She inspected the very dangerous artifacts that were in the sealed room. They included a Replicator Table, a Quantum Mirror, a Vacuum Bottle, an Ascendant Neutralizer, a Time Machine, and a few other devices. She saw that everything was in order.

The Council had specifically assigned the Guardian as the keeper of the Forbidden Archives because, as her father had explained to them, the Guardian would be the ideal Curator: dispassionate in her duties, with no personal motive to ever use them, being a creature with no past memory (and no real future). She would remain forever alone, never interacting with others, ordered to never leave the city, so she would have no desire to ever abuse such terrible devices for her own ends.

But she did leave the city.

She was now able to recall the approximate year and the gate address where it had happened.

 _Where is my Mommy?_

 _I can't find my Mommy!_

In her madness she had violated her orders and had committed a terrible crime.

She paused. She went back to the Time Machine.

She could go back.

She could undo a horrible mistake.

She took off a white glove and touched the Time Machine with her fingers, feeling its shiny smooth surface.

No one would ever know.

She thought a moment, then she put back on her glove and left the room.

* * *

The Guardian climbed up to the rooftop of the North Tower alone. Living with McKay meant that she would go to the North Pier only rarely now, and given what might happen during the next seven days she did not know if she would ever have a chance to climb up there ever again.

Standing on the rooftop she looked up as she had done many of times in her life.

 _Just remember, my little white tiger-kitty, there will always be someone watching you. Never forget that._

 _So you have told me many times.. After you leave, will it be you who will be watching me?_

 _I honestly don't know. But if I can watch you, I promise I will._

And so from her youngest age she had climbed up to the roof of the North Tower whenever she had the opportunity, looking up so that he could see her face.

And now she looked up into the heavens, for possibly the last time. She knew that also up there were the _Vigilante_ , The Watchers, the Ascendant beings who she knew were watching her at that very moment.

Even higher up was the _Excogitatoris_ , the Creator, the One who existed in some unreachable higher level of reality - of which the physical universe was only a small part. He existed outside of time and space, and presumably He could re-enter any part of His Creation at will.

In her talks with Kurosawa, the Guardian knew that there were humans who had claimed that He had done exactly that on their amazing world about 2000 years ago. At first she thought the idea was absurd. Now she wasn't so sure. If there was any one world in the known universe that had deserved Watching, be it the Watchers or even the Creator Himself, it certainly had to be that one. It was the most dynamic and vibrant world she had ever heard of. If the Creator ever did decide to meddle at a single point in His Creation, she believed that it would be there.

She had asked Kurosawa what Evan Lorne was doing at the end of his Twelve Step meeting, when he seemed to be talking directly with the _Excogitatoris_. Kurosawa explained that it was called 'prayer'. She said that God always heard prayer, and that it was a form of bidirectional communication, a dialogue, 1-on-1, and when it was done properly it was a form of spiritual intimacy between the Creator and His Creation - a meeting of minds - and that therefore it should be done each and every day to strengthen and deepen that spiritual connection, just like physical exercise strengthens the body.

The Guardian had never done it, indeed it had never occurred to her to even conceive of doing it. She decided to give it a try.

 _Excogitatoris, I know you are Watching me, to instantiate my reality if nothing else. I explained it to Rodney: I think therefore I exist, I exist therefore I am Observed, I am Observed therefore there is an Observer, QED. But Rodney still clings to his strict physical materialism no matter how strong the evidence that I present to him that You exist. I'm not sure why._

 _You Created me. You are Watching me. But do You care? Do You participate? I think You must do so on Earth because that world is a miracle unto itself, and only divine intervention could keep something so incredibly unstable from flying apart into complete chaos almost immediately. Yes, Earth is a living miracle, one that You had Created._

 _So maybe You do care for these humans? But if so, why? Why them?_

 _I do see some of it, I think. They are young, eager, brave, foolish, facing challenges beyond their comprehension. My people started to interbreed with them.._

Her radio crackled to life.

 _"Grodin to Guardian."_

She tapped her mic. "Guardian here."

 _"I am very sorry to bother you ma'am, but we are having problems trying to connect the magnetic grapples and the durafiber nets to the backs of the jumpers. I have some of my engineers with me in the main hangar. Major Sheppard said it would be all right if I contacted you to please ask for some help?"_

"I am happy to assist you. On my way. Guardian out."

She looked up for a final time.

 _I respect and honor your Creation, this universe, for it is indeed sublime, elegant, and majestic in its glorious design. I don't know You, but I do know that it is a reflection of You, Glorious Creator, so I respect and honor You as well. Amen._

She wasn't sure if she did it right. She decided to ask Kurosawa about it later. She was going to next ask the _Excogitatoris_ what happened to her people when Grodin interrupted her. She made a mental note to later ask Kurosawa if there was anything in Earth's religious writings about early humans interbreeding with powerful beings that came from another world. She gazed up at the fluffy clouds for the last time, then she sighed and headed for the rooftop's edge.

She climbed down the ladder and re-entered the main building, walked down two flights of stairs, crossed a hall, and entered the teleporter for the upper North Tower. She quickly zapped herself over to McKay's quarters to drop off her duffel bag, then she zapped over to the main hangar to assist Grodin.

* * *

The Guardian was back in McKay's quarters. She was once again straddling him on his bed, but this time it was for an entirely different reason. McKay was laying on his stomach and looked unhappy. She was slowly moving the palm of her right hand over the back of his injured thigh where a large bruise had formed.

McKay squirmed a bit. "Hey, that tickles."

"Keep still." Her hand was glowing softly as it accelerated his tissue repair. "You lacerated the vein. I hope you learned your lesson."

He was resting his chin on the back of his hands. "Yeah, yeah. Never try to sneak into the shower with a girl who is way more limber than you are." McKay's attempt to share the shower had quickly failed, ending with only a fall and a nasty bruise to his thigh and to his ego.

As she kept working on healing his injured leg he asked her, "So how does that healing gizmo work?"

She continued to move her glowing right palm over his bruise. "I am not sure really. It's an energy transfer mechanism that stimulates cellular repair."

He squirmed again. "Rodney, keep still."

"Sorry."

"There, done." She stood up and started to dress.

He sat up and rubbed his thigh. "You know, we're going to need a bigger bed." Then he added brightly, "Hey, I bet we can requisition a bigger room. Maybe one with a balcony?"

She briefly sat back down on the bed to put on her white boots. "Rodney, why didn't you ask for that originally?"

"Eh, up to now I'd only use this room to crash out, usually after an all-nighter in the lab, that's it. So you think Weir will let us have bigger digs now that we're married?"

She put on her gloves and sealed them. "Oh I think she will, however she will need to discuss it with the Quartermaster." She smiled, "Oh wait, that's me."

McKay rubbed his still sore thigh again. "Hey, yeah, you're the landlady! Does this place have a penthouse suite somewhere? Let's grab it."

She tsked-tsked him as she stood up again. "No, we get nothing that extravagant. A balcony is fine, but that's it." She attached her hooded cloak. "Now hurry up and get dressed or we're going to be late for the final briefing."

* * *

The Guardian was piloting a puddle jumper to the L5 Lagrangian point in the Lantean system. A durafiber net and a magnetic grapple were in tow.

McKay was sitting in the co-pilot seat. He was fidgeting.

"Dang it, Kit, I should be back at the city working on refurbishing the drone launch bays. We still need to figure out how to adapt our naquadah power generators for trickle-charging the drones. Why did you drag me out here?"

"Well, I thought this would be a good opportunity for you to gain some more piloting experience."

"Kit, I already know how to pilot a jumper." Sheppard had previously given him some basic flight training after McKay had received his initial ATA gene therapy.

The Guardian explained, "You only know how to do basic take offs and landings using the neural autopilot. The flight logs say that you've only flown two practice flights out to the mainland and back, that's it. You've never flown through the gate before or up into space."

"Aw, how hard can it be?"

"And you need to learn advanced tactics: evasion, targeting, drone launching, high speed planetary re-entry.."

McKay crossed his arms. "And when will I ever use those?"

"Trust me, some day you will."

"C'mon, why do I need to learn how to evade and shoot when I am flying a ship that has an invisibility cloak?"

"Rodney, you can't always depend on the ship's cloak to be functional. It can easily become damaged, or you might need to divert the power for extra speed, or you might meet an enemy that can see through the cloak."

McKay had a worried look on his face. "An enemy can see through it? Who?"

"Well, no one you need to worry about right now. The Replicators mainly. They learn to adapt very quickly to overcome any offensive or defensive weapon, sometimes within minutes. Granted, they are an ancient enemy that you needn't concern yourself with at the moment.."

McKay nodded with understanding. "Yeah, Replicators. I hate those things."

The jumper lurched as the Guardian reacted to McKay's very surprising statement. She turned on the autopilot and swivelled her pilot seat to face McKay squarely. "You.. you know about the Replicators?"

"Oh yeah. Nasty little buggers."

She whispered, "Where?"

"They infested the SGC once. We had a devil of a time getting them out."

"That's.. that's impossible."

"Why?"

{ They are implacable enemies, relentless, impossible for mortals to defeat. In some ways they are even worse than the Wraith. If they had reached Earth you wouldn't have a planet anymore, at least not one with any recognizable form of biological sentient life left on it. }

"Huh? They're bad but they're not that bad. Not too intelligent either. At least the ones in the SGC. They just, well, replicated, and that's it. We got rid of them."

The Guardian frowned. { Show me an image of them in your mind. }

He did. They looked like robotic Lego spiders, marauding but doing little else.

"That's it? Are you sure?"

"Uh, well, I wasn't there when they infested the SGC. I heard it was touch-and-go for a while, but yeah, they eventually got rid of them."

 _Not the same. More primitive._

McKay went on. "I think some other Replicators later tried to clone Samantha Carter - they wanted to use her as a template for creating a master controller or something. It didn't work."

She asked worriedly, "It didn't? You sure?"

"Nope, didn't work. As far as I know they haven't been a problem since.*"

From McKay's description the Milky Way Replicators seemed to be considerably inferior compared to the ultra-intelligent and ruthlessly implacable enemy of the Ancients.**

The Guardian gave a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the Maker, you had me scared for a moment." She rotated her pilot seat so it faced forward again.

"Anyway, you need to learn some basic evasive combat maneuvers." She leaned forward and added, "Like this one."

The jumper suddenly began to corkscrew wildly in a loop-the-loop like a drunken bird.

Rodney yelled, "Gah!" as the ship spiraled around like a roller-coaster ride. A few seconds later it levelled out and steadied itself.

He yelled at her, "Stop that! I'll throw up!"

The Guardian sat back and grinned at him. "That was a bumpy ride, wasn't it?"

"Yes!"

"That is because the inertial dampeners were caught off guard and fell behind by a fraction of a second. Now watch this." She repeated the same maneuver again, but this time it was smooth as glass. The stars swirled outside but there was no apparent feeling of movement inside the vehicle.

McKay was impressed. "I didn't feel a thing. How did you do that?"

"I told the ship what I was planning to do ahead of time. It readied the inertial dampeners, then I synchronized my mind with the ship and told it the evasive pattern I wanted it to follow, then I let ship fly the pattern for me. In this case it flew a pre-arranged path that I call 'Evasive Pattern Helix 1'. Simple, see?"

"So the ship flew a pre-arranged flight pattern that you had programmed in advance."

"Correct. I have flown thousands of hours in this little ship. This is my personal jumper, so it knows me very well. It knows all my favorite tricks." She lovingly stroked the console. "It's name is Tarai."

"You named it?"

"Oh yes. The jumper and pilot work together as one. Each pilot has a favorite jumper, and the tighter the mental bond the better it flies. It can be a very close relationship."

McKay said acerbically, "Well, you just tell Tarai that you're already taken."

She laughed. "He knows. Don't worry, he says he likes you."

"Oh that's just great."

"Would you like to fly next? Introduce yourself?"

McKay crossed his arms again. "No, not really."

"Well, on the return flight I will have you practice a high speed de-orbit and fast landing. Don't worry, it will be 100% manual."

"Aw, why?"

"Because it's very important. A normal landing can take a long time to bleed off the high velocity from orbit, and there can easily be a situation where you might need to dive in and rescue me or someone else off a hostile planet as fast as possible. The hull is very strong but it can't be a meteor."

"Oh wonderful.."

"The trick is to fly a series of 'S' turns at the optimum descent angle for the given atmospheric density and composition. The descent window is very narrow. Go in too steep and you burn up; go in too shallow and you bounce off the atmosphere. You have to hit just the right angle, usually to within about three degrees or less."

"Oh brother. I hope there's an indicator dial somewhere?"

"Yes. I'll demonstrate when we get back. Tarai could do it for us, of course, but you might be flying a different jumper in an emergency situation so you need to know how to do it manually."

"Fine, whatever."

They resumed their flight in silence. McKay checked the chronometer. "Gawd, it's only been 2 hours. 13 more hours to get there. Why did you pick L5? It's the furthest one out."

"To give us maximum time."

"For what?"

She made a small grin. "Check the storage compartment."

He got up and went to the back section. The Guardian unhooked her seatbelt and followed him back. He opened the lid to the storage compartment, and there he pulled out a warm blanket and a soft sleeping mat.

He caught on and chuckled, "This is just so we can get some sleep on the return leg, right?"

She approached him from the back and wrapped her arms around him. "It's the best I could arrange for a honeymoon. And yes, we both desperately need some sleep. We certainly didn't get any last night."

He turned and embraced her face-to-face. "You know, this was actually in the back of my mind after you shanghaied me up here, but I was worried that the aluminum emergency blanket wouldn't be warm enough and the cargo mat would be too hard so I didn't say anything."

"So we were both thinking the same thing again.."

He pulled her in. "Great minds think alike don't they?"

"Indeed they do." She kissed him.

* * *

He was embracing her under the blanket. "Kit, you are so incredibly warm. We don't really need the blanket.."

She said, "No, I still want the blanket. Otherwise I'd feel chilly."

"You'd feel cold without the blanket? It feels downright toasty to me."

"I'm a thermophile. My outfit is an insulator that keeps my high body heat in; that's why I don't wear any other fabric."

"Of course, I get it. You always wear your special gloves for the same reason - because otherwise your hands would feel chilly."

"Exactly. My outfit maintains my thermal equilibrium and helps reduce the draw on my biopacks. On a sunny warm day I will sometimes wear my sundress. The black rooftop material can get very warm, so I usually change into it before I go cloud watching. If it's a bit chilly I sometimes wear my bodysuit's leggings under the dress."

"Well, you feel to me like I'm holding a heated body pillow. A very nice one, I might add."

They looked at each other's faces in silence under the blanket. The rear compartment was well lit, so McKay used the opportunity study her face closely: her high cheekbones, her perfect complexion. He gazed deep into her sparkling blue eyes, and for the first time he noticed that her irises had tiny gold flecks in them.

"My god, you're beautiful."

{ And I think you are very handsome. }

"No I'm not. I'm balding, I'm not that tall, I'm going to need glasses soon.."

{ You are wrong. Besides, I don't care what you look like. You have the most beautiful mind I have ever seen, and remember I had lived among Lanteans. }

They continued to gaze at each other under the warm blanket.

 _Is this really happening? I can't believe how lucky I am._

She smiled at the thought-leak. { No, I'm the lucky one, not you. }

"C'mon."

{ Just look at you. Out of the billions and billions of people on your planet you, and only you, were selected out of all of them to come here, across galaxies, across millennia, to be with me. Everything is rare, but even this is.. }

"Wait, everything is rare?"

"Yes, Rodney, everything is rare."

McKay propped his head up. "What do you mean by that?"

"You should know. It is a basic property of the physical universe."

"Is this like your weird comment about neutrinos? Are you being cryptic again?"

She propped her head up as well. "No, my statement should be obvious. As a physicist you of all people show know what I mean by it."

This was technically their honeymoon, and they were both tired and sleepy, but she had triggered McKay's insatiable curiosity. McKay had to know what she meant by her strange remark. "All right, I give up. Explain yourself."

"Well, let's start with life. You agree that life is pretty rare in the universe, right?"

"Of course. Life exists on only in a tiny subset of planets. The probability is modeled by the Drake Equation: the rate of star formation, the fraction of those stars with planets, the average number of planets that can potentially support life, and the fraction that actually develop intelligent life. We know it's really tiny, but not zero. Until the Stargate Program the only example was Earth itself."

"Correct. Now, is life rare on Earth, as a fraction of the planet I mean?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose so. You can calculate the amount of biomass versus the mass of the entire planet, which yeah, is a pretty tiny fraction of it I bet."

"Again correct. I worked it out. The mass of your planet is approximately 6 sextillion metric tons [6 trillion gigatons]. Earth has billions of people, plus all the agriculture to feed all those people, and over half your people eat a considerable amount of meat, which takes even more grains and crops, plus all the natural wildlife your world has in an incredibly diverse ecosystem that is broader than any other known planet. The fecundity of Earth is incredible. For example, did you know that there are over 350,000 species of beetles on your world?"

"Beetles? Ick. I hate bugs."

"Well, get used to them. There are over 4 _quintillion_ beetles on your planet, plus all of the other kinds of insects, plus a trillion birds, uncountable numbers of aquatic creatures, and truly massive amounts of plant life. And it's growing. Did you know despite your huge population increase that there are now more forests and trees planted on your world than there were 200 years ago before your Industrial Age even began?"

"Okay, but what's your point with all this?"

"Rodney, the planet Earth, the most fecund planet known, with the huge biomass of all of its life, including all underground and undersea life, is roughly a trillion metric tons, with the vast majority being single-cell microbes and plants. In contrast, the mass of the Earth is six _billion_ times that."

"Pretty tiny fraction."

"Emphatically. Only 0.000000016 percent of your planet is actually alive. And humans are a less than microscopic fraction of even that. Compared to your planet as a whole, even mold and mildew is incredibly special and rare. Everything that is alive will live for only the tiniest fraction of Earth's history until it dies and gets covered by other life until it forms topsoil, then it sinks over millennia into the Earth and decomposes back to basic carbon and other elements, with some forming oil and coal but with the vast majority of it sinking slowly back into the unquenchable fires of the Earth's mantle, never to be seen again until the universe dies. Don't you see? Any given bit of living matter on Earth, even the most insignificant spot of slime, is rarer than winning a thousand lotteries, and it lives for only the most fleeting of moments before it dies and sinks back to into the Earth, never to be seen again."

McKay raised a hand. "Okay, Kit, you made your point.."

"I'm not done. You, Rodney, are the product of conception where a half billion sperm cells fought to fertilize only one egg. Only one sperm succeeded. Now, doesn't that sound like a waste?"

McKay wasn't sure where she was going with her argument now. "Uh.."

"And the hierarchy of all wildlife can be stacked like a pyramid, with microbes and plants at the bottom, then insects, then arthropods and fish, birds and herbivores, leaving a tiny fraction as carnivores, and then just the tiniest number of them as apex predators: wolves, sharks, eagles, lions."

He grinned, "And tigers?"

She gave him a look, then she resumed. "Yes, and tigers. The point is almost all life is primitive, mindless, and relatively boring. Guess which of those categories is the most celebrated? The most talked about? The ones that appear in almost all your wildlife film documentaries? The rarest."

"Well, yeah, lions and stuff are the most interesting. Who wants to watch a documentary about slimes or mold?"

"Exactly! Rarity is interesting. Remember that."

"Fine, fine, I get it, all life is rare. And interesting life is rarer still. But you said *everything* is rare. What about that 99.9999.. blah blah percent of the Earth that is dead? How can that be rare?"

"Rodney, planets are rare. You know how big space really is."

"Yeah, I do. And yes, it is really incredible just how big the Solar System really is compared to the itty bitty planets in it, and few people realize it. There's an Internet video at a URL that I forget*** that really nailed it for laypeople. Earth was a marble, Jupiter was a soccer ball, the Sun was about 5 feet across, and they laid all the other planets like that in the middle of the desert. The video is amazing to watch. They built the whole Solar System going out to Neptune and the whole thing was bigger than San Fransisco."

"And that is downright crowded compared to interstellar space."

McKay chuckled, "Oh yeah. Interstellar distances are insane. The nearest star to Earth's system is Alpha Centauri, about 4.2 light years away. If you shrank the Sun down to the size of a period on a printed page, Alpha Centauri would be another pencil-point about 14 kilometers away. If Earth's Sun was scaled to a 1 foot radius and put in London, Alpha Centauri would be another ball 10,000 miles away in the southernmost tip of South Africa."

"Yes, and interstellar space is _crowded_ compared to intergalactic space."

He stopped her. "I can take it from here. Yeah, intergalactic space is appallingly empty. Well over 99% of the observable universe is intergalactic space with nothing in it, and between the galactic clusters and superclusters themselves are monsterous voids that are even bigger."

"Correct. The physical structure of the universe is actually very frothy, sort of like soapy suds when you take a bath. The galactic superclusters are all clumped along very thin strips and point junctions that interconnect the frothy soap bubbles. The rest of it, all that empty space inside those soap bubbles, goes for billions of light years in any direction."

"I know that. So what's your point here?"

She ignored him. "Rodney, let me ask you now, given how space is so appallingly empty, would you consider a random meteor, a lump of rock, in the great scheme of things, to be something rather special?"

"Well, yeah."

"Rare?"

"Of course."

"Perhaps even precious?"

"I get it. Anything at all would be pretty special given the complete emptiness surrounding us."

"Good, remember that. Now let's shift gears. Pick a large gathering place where your people congregate, for example to watch a sports game or to watch an arts event."

"Okay, I'll pick the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. My Dad took me and Jean there to watch the Summer Olympics in 1976. It's the biggest stadium in Canada, fits about 66,000 people."

"Approximate size?"

"Well, I'm not sure exactly, but I know it has an enormous dome. Let's say it's 165 meters high."

"Fine, now take one atom, the largest stable atom in nature, which is.."

McKay interrupted her, "Uranium-238. 92 protons, 146 neutrons, a big sucker."

"Yes, the biggest fattest natural atom there is. Now put it in the center of that huge domed stadium. That stadium represents one atom. What would it look like?"

McKay worked it out in his head. "Let's see. The nucleus of U-238 has a diameter of approximately 15 femtometers, multiply it out.. I'm guessing it would be about the size of a marble?"

"Close enough. And the electron cloud?"

"Basically 92 gnats flying around the empty stadium."

"Good. Now think about it. Montreal's Olympic Stadium with a marble and 92 gnats flying around inside that whole space. And that represents the entire volume of space for a single atom. Atoms are almost entirely empty space. Physical matter is basically a whole lot of nothing."

She poked her finger into his bare shoulder. "When I press my finger into you like that, you already know that it is actually the electroweak force that is causing the resistance that is stopping my finger. There is no actual physical contact anywhere, in the sense of particles getting close enough to actually touch. The nuclear forces prevent it. So in a sense I am not actually 'touching' you at all."

"Yeah, fine. Okay, I'm getting it. So from your point of view even a single electron or atom nucleus is 'rare' because an atom is actually 99.999 blah blah percent empty space, right?"

"Yes. Now do you understand? When I say 'everything is rare' I mean it literally. Everything in the universe is fantastically rare, on every scale, from the largest galactic supercluster down to the smallest atom."

"So is there a point to all this?"

"Yes, I think so. By learning about the properties of the observable universe on all of it's scales: intergalactic, life, subatomic, we can learn about its Creator."

"Oh not this again. Dang it, Kit.."

"Hear me out. I'm almost done. What I am trying to say is that the nature of Creation, how it is structured, how it works, helps us to understand something important about the One who created it."

"Which is?"

"He seems to like rarity."

"Huh?"

"I admit that I can't prove it. But it seems to me that if everything is rare, then He must like that."

"Well, fine, given the hypothetical premise - which I still don't buy - you can make that supposition I guess."

The Guardian gently touched McKay's face. { Meredith, you are so special, incredibly special. On every possible scale. I'm the luckiest woman in the universe. }

He leaned in. "No, you're the miracle, not me. I crossed two galaxies and found the last living Lantean, and now she's here with me."

"Mmm."

"Are we really married? I swear I'm dreaming all this. I really do."

She smiled, "I told you, I think we are both dreaming right now."

{ Bassara. }

"And I hope it never ends.." He kissed her. She returned it.

{ Meredith. } Hands were moving. She rolled on top and tried to straddle him again, the blanket falling away.

And then..

He stopped. "Kit, wait."

She was surprised. She laid back down next to him.

"I'm sorry, was I going too fast?"

He smiled, "Oh no, believe me, you were fine."

"Are you too tired?" Neither one of them had slept in almost 48 hours.

"No, it's not that.."

She grew increasingly concerned. This wasn't like him. "What did I do wrong?"

He scooted closer to her under the blanket. "It's nothing you've done.."

{ Meredith? }

{ It's.. what you are going to do. }

{ I don't follow. }

{ We both know we're going to lose the city eventually. }

She took a deep breath. { I know. Even if we stop the trio, they'll just send another. And another. We could launch 1000 drones, and another 1000 after that. Ultimately it won't matter.. }

{ .. because we're just fighting the Lantean-Wraith war all over again. }

{ I know, it's hopeless. }

"We don't even know if the SGC got our message. And even if they did, without a ZPM there is nothing they can do to help us stop them anyway."

{ Your idea to scavenge the drones was brilliant. It will buy us time. } She stroked his cheek.

"It will stop the trio. But then.."

{ .. but then the Wraith will regroup and try again. We probably have only a month left, maybe only a few weeks. Eventually they will figure out that we don't have a shield. Then they'll just raid us with darts and beam down hundreds of Wraith combat drones, all charged up with several fresh feedings each, and do a mass attack to take over the gate. Even I can't stop that. }

"And then you'll destroy the city."

{ Yes. I'll wait until the last possible moment, give all of your people time to escape. They don't know the gate address of the Alpha Site. }

"Kit.."

{ Stay hidden. Never use the gates, and you'll survive. }

"Without you I don't want to go."

Her face became stern. { Rodney McKay, you will leave my city when the time comes. If not, I'll make you. }

He held her hand. "Kit, come with me. We can rig a 10 second time delay on the self-destruct. I'll help you. Maybe we can even find a way to get back to Earth.."

She shook her head. { Rodney, we already discussed this. I am the Guardian of Atlantis. Protecting this city is the sole reason for my existence. If the city falls, I will have no purpose anymore. }

{ Bassara.. }

{ It's my duty. I made a solemn oath. I was born here, and I will die here. }

He quickly sat up and pulled her up by the shoulders with surprising force. "No. You're wrong."

"Rodney.."

"You made a new oath, new vows. To me. Yes, your old vows are still in effect, and yes we agreed that they would take priority. City first, not me. City first, not you. We agreed. But once you trigger that detonation sequence your duty is done. Your mission is finished."

"But.."

"Don't you see? You still have a purpose, your new vows. With me."

She flopped back down on the mat. "Oh I want to stay with you. I do. I want that so much. But I can't." She had tears in her eyes.

He held her again. "Why not?"

She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and turned to face him. { Remember how I kept asking you who I was? That I didn't think I was a person? Well, last night you finally made me believe that maybe, just perhaps, I might possibly be a real person after all. Every minute I'm with you reaffirms that. But don't you realize? It doesn't change who I am. I'm still the Guardian of Atlantis. It's my purpose, my only one. I don't know how to do anything else. }

"Then come with me to Earth. They still have the Chair down at the South Pole. We don't know how to use it properly."

{ No, you certainly don't. That was a horrible waste of drones. }

"Exactly. And you're an elite operator of the Chair, right? You can take out a capital ship with only 100-200 drones on a good day. By the end of today we'll probably have more drones than we know what to do with. We'll take a bunch of extras with us to the Alpha Site. Then we'll bring them all back to Earth and re-arm the Chair again."

{ Meredith, you mean.. }

"Yes. You'll have a purpose, one you know how to do, better than anybody. You'll be the Guardian of Earth."

She stared at him.

Of course.

A thousand drones.

The Chair.

She really would have a purpose. One that she knew very well.

Her eyes lit up, the blanket flew off, and she was back in the straddle position again.

{ Meredith, I love you.. }

"Heh. You'll come with me, right?"

{ I didn't think I could love you more than I already do. }

He was grinning. "Yeah, I hope this becomes a habit between us."

She pushed him down and kissed him as deeply as she could..

Hands were moving, and events were quickly approaching the point of no return.

.. and then she made a big yawn right into McKay's mouth.

McKay sat up and gagged.

{ Oh! I'm sorry! }

"Ack, I think there was backwash. Those three MREs you just ate. Gah!"

{ Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry! }

"It's okay. We can try again.."

She flopped back on the mat and pulled the blanket up again.

"No, I'm too tired."

"Aw.."

{ I am so exhausted. Rodney, we haven't slept in two days. }

He sighed. So much for the honeymoon. "Yeah, I guess I'm pretty beat too."

"Rodney, your idea of my being the Guardian of Earth.. I'm not sure I can do it. Earth is really scary. The more I think about it, the more scared I get."

He patted her shoulder. "Yeah, billions of people. Feh. Can't stand them. Well, humm, I'll probably get my old research job back at Area 51. I used to run Section 5, the Skunkworks section. I had a team where I basically could do any research I wanted. It's really isolated. A dream research gig really. Well, second only to Atlantis and you.."

"Area 51? Is that a secret lab?"

"Part of it. It's a very secret US Air Force base in the middle of the desert not far from Las Vegas. It's surrounded by square miles of empty fenced-off US government land with Shoot on Sight warning signs posted everywhere. Very private, very secret, and it's pretty major, practically a city unto itself."

{ Hmm. A secret technological city floating on an ocean. Only one made of sand instead of water, filled with scientists and military personnel. You know, I think I'm familiar with that.. }

"Heh, yeah, great analogy. I bet you'd love it. You'd fit right in too. We already have aliens there, including two Goa'ulds down deep in The Hole. We got a Baal clone and one of Baal's flunkies, a big fat slob whose name I forget. The bastards won't talk, even with enhanced interrogation techniques."

{ Rodney, I think I might be able to help with that. }

"Oooh. Would you really do that for us? A forced mind probe? I know you are really touchy about doing that.."

"Rodney, as the Guardian of Earth it means that my job would be to ensure planetary security against alien threats."

"Department of Homeworld Security. Bingo. You'd fit right in."

"Yes. Not only would I agree to scan your Goa'lud prisoners, it would be my duty and obligation to do so for planetary security."

"It's a perfect job for you then."

"Also, I'd strongly recommend that the Chair be moved from the South Pole to a new secret location. The Goa'uld know the South Pole location so it is compromised now. It was stupid how you revealed it so easily."

"So how would you have fought them from there if it was you?"

"Well, the South Pole was chosen because it would be the least visible location from equatorial orbit. If the orbit was non-equatorial I would wait until the enemy was on the far side of the planet and launch out of sight. Otherwise I'd launch at ground level, with the drones skimming just a few meters off the ice floor.."

".. like Tomahawk cruise missiles.."

".. until they reached the ocean, then depending on the orbital location of the enemy I'd fly them into the sea, just under the water, moving them away from the South Pole in random swarms, then bring them up all at once for a simultaneous attack on the enemy fleet. From the enemy's point of view the drones would be coming at them from ten different directions. They would have had no idea where they were actually coming from."

"Neat. Did you think of that?"

"No. It's SOP. The Antarctic Defense Station had no shield; none of our defense stations did. ZPMs were too valuable. We only used them to charge up the drones, then the defense station would run without one, manned only by a single Guardian, with a visit by a supply ship every few years to loan its ZPM to top off the power charges in the drones. The defense stations all depended on secrecy for their survival. That is why yours was buried in the South Pole under almost a half mile of ice."

"So where would you move it to?"

"How secret is this Area 51? Does anyone outside the US government know about it?"

"Uh, well, it's not really secret anymore. Hollywood has even made movies about the place, including one called _Independence Day_ where they had aliens there, and there was a big invasion attempt.. You know, that was not really that far off from reality surprisingly enough.."

The Guardian tsk-tsked him. "Well, it was foolish to reveal it. We can't put it there. What is the surrounding terrain like? Are there any mountains nearby?"

"Oh yeah, it's ringed with them, the Sierra Nevadas."

"Then that is were I would secretly move it. I would construct a tunnel from Area 51 to the nearest mountain, then build a small complex there similar to your Stargate Command Center in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Not as big of course, just enough to hold the standard 2048 drone complement for a defense station."

McKay though. "Hmm, tunneling would be expensive. It might need to go 10-20 kilometers."

"With a ZPM it would be trivial. We already have a drill attachment here in the city for underwater ocean drilling, back when we were trying to exploit geothermal energy to supplant our limited ZPM supply."

McKay said sarcastically, "Well, everything is easier with a ZPM, isn't it?"

"Rodney, one more thing: A Guardian's duty is to protect the planet, not to protect any one country. I cannot get involved in your planet's internal politics."

"I'm sure that would be cool with the SGC. Talk to Weir to be sure."

"I will, but I definitely don't want to get involved with your planet's Byzantine politics. I get nightmares just thinking about it. Normally the rule is that we only put a defense station on advanced worlds that have a single unified government. We sign a treaty that lays out what we will and won't do.."

He patted her hand. "Okay, okay.. I'm getting a headache now. Let's drop it. The point is, you are not going to run off and kill yourself when the city falls, right?"

{ No, you talked me out of it, my love. }

"Good."

She gave him a knowing look. { It wouldn't have worked, you know. }

"Hmm?"

{ You've been searching for the subroutine that triggers the city's self-destruct. You found it. You have a hidden pre-written subroutine to replace it with a timer. }

He sighed and put a hand over his face. "You found it.."

{ Yes. You also found my second one.. }

".. the second subroutine that you hid in the power management software. I admit it. You caught me."

{ .. and the third one I hid in the environmental system. That was one was deep. I'm impressed. }

McKay's eyes widened. He didn't expect her to know that he found it.

"I'm sorry, Kit. Look, I did it because I love you, and I didn't want you to die.."

{ I know, my love. I didn't say anything. You never found the fourth one. }

He sat up. "What?"

She grinned and pulled him back down, then she wrapped herself around him. To McKay she again felt like a warm electric blanket. { Never try to trick me. Sheppard tried; it will never work. }

"Sorry.."

"Shush." She lifted his head with her hands and kissed him deeply.

This time it was McKay's turn to yawn into Sara's mouth.

{ Ack! }

"Sorry!"

The blanket was pulled up again, and they were both on their backs again.

He sighed, "You know, this isn't going to work. We're both just too tired."

"I know. I'm sorry. This is supposed to be our honeymoon. Well, I already told Tarai to wake us in eight hours. I suppose we should just get to sleep then."

"Yeah. Goodnight."

{ Goodnight, my love. }

He held her hand again. "Kit, thank you for this dream.."

She smiled, { How do I know it's not just my own dream? You might just be merely a figment of my own imagination, you know. }

He grinned. "Not arguing. Too tired. Dream of me, okay?"

"Mmm."

Her eyes snapped open again. She had a gleam in her eye. She rolled on top of him again. "Ooh, I have an idea."

McKay was getting a bit put off with all her teasing. "C'mon, Kit, not again. We're both dead tired. Look, I said this isn't going to work."

{ No, I really have an idea that might work. I want to try something different. }

"Try what?"

{ A very advanced exercise for increasing mental intimacy. Lucid dreaming. }

"Lucid dreaming?"

{ Yes. We dream at the same time, with one of us taking control of the shared dream state while the other rides along. It's very advanced, but since we're already at the Bond level I think it might work, even if you're not 100% Lantean. I'll have to be the primary, I think, at least for now. }

"The primary controls the dream."

{ Exactly. For now you are just going along for the ride. Later on we can try switching control, but for now I think I should run it. }

He was dubious. "Run what exactly? What kind of dream are we talking about here?"

{ Well, anything really. We can dream anything you would like, any fantasy, any situation, be anyone, be anywhere. As long as we both agree. }

He was still very unsure about the whole idea. "Oh man, I dunno." { Uh, Kit, I have to warn you, I have a rather, uh, I mean.. I kinda dreamed about you already. A lot. Uh, I'm not sure if.. }

{ It's all right. Don't worry, I'll run this one. We'll do something simple that a normal couple would do, nothing really bizarre. Besides, we both really need the sleep. }

"Uh, okay, I guess. But if I want to bail, you'll let me out of it?"

{ Of course, right away. This requires trust. }

"All right. So, what do I do?"

She stroked his face. { Our heads should be touching. It works best that way. }

He moved in. "Okay. Now I just close my eyes?"

{ Yes. Sweet dreams, my love. Tarai will wake us in eight hours. }

"Goodnight.." He closed his eyes.

Within seconds the Guardian was asleep, her breathing soft and regular.

He opened his eyes again. Yes, she was really asleep already. He took the opportunity to closely study her face again.

He thought that she looked human enough to pass for one if they ever got to Earth together. If anything she looked a bit too perfect, with her spotless complexion and her high cheekbones. A bit exotic even. Well, he could always claim that she had plastic surgery or something.

Would everyone buy that? Her figure was athletic and trim, well proportioned, and not particularly busty. Wait, if a woman was having plastic surgery wouldn't she want to enhance herself there first? It would be suspicious if she didn't..

He kept thinking.

Something poked him in the shoulder. { Rodney, what's taking you so long? Hurry up, I'm waiting! }

"Oh, uh, sorry! Going to sleep!"

In seconds she was sound asleep again.

He closed his eyes tightly and began counting prime numbers starting after 1,050,000.

 _1,050,011.. 1,050,0013.. 1,050,031.. 1,050,041.._

* * *

He found himself standing on an flat empty white plane that seemed to go off forever.

"Rodney! I've been waiting over 15 minutes!"

He spun around and there she was. She was wearing her usual combat uniform.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I was still pretty wound up thinking about you and Earth and everything. Uh, we're still asleep right?"

She approached him. "Yes. It's working. The intercranial bandwidth is excellent, better than I hoped. This should work nicely."

He shrugged, "So, uh, what do we do?"

She took a step back. "Well, I was thinking about that. Now, you are always teasing me about being Supergirl, so.."

Suddenly she was wearing Supergirl's whole outfit, complete with the knee-high red boots, the red pleated skirt, the tight blue longsleeve high-necked top with the yellow and red 'S' blazoned across her front. "You like this, hmm?"

He didn't particularly; he only called her that to tease her. He was still feeling a bit disoriented so he decided to just go along with it. "Uh, sure. Okay."

She sighed, "And I suppose that makes you Superman. I already looked it up. There."

He tried to stop her but it was too late. Now he was wearing the Man of Steel's outfit, with his physique, but his own head and face..

Her eyes widened. "Gaah!" She shut them tightly. "No, no! Wrong! Wrong!"

He was waving her off but she had already quickly changed him back to normal. Her eyes were still tightly shut.

"Great. Now I will never get that image out of my head. Ugh, that was awful."

McKay yelled, "I could have told you that!"

She opened her eyes again and frowned at him. "All right, what's your suggestion then?"

"Uh.. okay.. keep it simple, right?"

"Yes. You pick it."

"Uhm.. superheros.. anything simple.."

His eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, of course."

"Which one?"

"Let's do Batman."

"Show me the image in your mind."

He thought quickly. There were a lot of potential choices. The old 1960's Adam West version was right out, and so was the overly stiff and immobile outfit that Michael Keaton wore in the 1980's version. He decided to go with the Christian Bale version in _The Dark Knight_.*4

He was now wearing Christian Bale's outfit in TDK. She gave him a careful once over and nodded approvingly. "Hmm, you know, I like that. What's the belt for?"

"It's his utility belt. You see, Batman has no superpowers. He fights crime just using his brain and the gizmos that he invents. That's why I think he's so cool."

She approached. "Mmm, yes, I like it. Okay, who am I then?"

He thought quickly again. Batgirl? No, that didn't seem right. He felt that Sara was too mature in both body and spirit for her. Some of the Robins were female. There were at least two of them in fact: Stephanie Brown and Carrie Kelly. But he felt that both were way too young, especially Kelly, and it really didn't feel right either. Not with Batman.

Hmm, who else? He knew that Bruce Wayne had endless girlfriends, most of them fake to fit his false rich playboy persona. No that wouldn't work either. It had to be someone who could realistically be in a serious relationship with him, one that could potentially go all the way. A supervillian perhaps? Poison Ivy maybe? No. Wait..

He snapped his fingers. "I got it! Oh, of course!"

"Well?"

"Selina Kyle!"

"Who is Selina Kyle?"

"Catwoman! Yeah!"

Sara frowned. "'Catwoman'? Seriously? Rodney, you know how I feel about indulging in your little perversion about my tiger engrams.."

"First, I'm not perverted and neither are you. I already explained that. Second, Selina Kyle is a very complex woman. She grew up in a broken family and fell on the wrong side of the tracks. Batman kept trying to get her to switch to the good side. C'mon, read me."

She did. McKay imagined Selina Kyle as played by actress Anne Hathaway in TDK. She saw that the woman had a rather athletic and well-proportioned body type that was rather close to her own. And she was wearing.. she was wearing..

A full-length mirror appeared, and Sara was inspecting herself wearing Hathaway's Catwoman outfit. "Oooh.."

Batman walked up behind her approvingly. "Wow, that costume works on you." Her hair was darker but otherwise she looked like herself. He saw that the black outfit set off her fair skin nicely, the same as it did on Hathaway.

She turned. "Yes, I love this outfit. The eyemask is intriguing. I caught your background about her too, how she led a hard life growing up without a father, was used as a sex slave for money.."

"You mean a prostitute."

".. a prostitute, then she beat her slaveowner.."

"Pimp."

".. her pimp and turned into a petty thief. She saved Batman's life once. Did I get all that right?"

"Yep. There was a lot of misunderstanding between them, especially in _The Dark Knight Rises_. Eventually he won her over to the good side. He faked his death, and together they eloped to Europe together in secret."

She said coyly, "Oh yes, that sounds perfect. Let's keep it simple for now. Leave out Europe. I'm not ready for that."

"Okay. Uh, now what?"

She was annoyed. He was being far too passive. Didn't he realize this was a dream?

"Rodney, look at me."

"Yeah, wow, it works."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Look, do I really need to explain this for you? I am your wife. This is our honeymoon. I am wearing a Catwoman outfit. Shall I continue to elaborate? Or would you like for me to just draw some diagrams in a sketchbook for you?"

He got the hint. He came forward and he embraced her.

She squirmed. "Wait a second." She tried to look behind herself, "Hmm, did I forget the tail?" One appeared.

He shook his head. "No, Catwoman is just a disguise. She's a normal woman with no powers just like Batman. She's just as smart as him too. Her creator, Bob Kane, said he was inspired by actress Hedy Lamarr, a beautiful genius who had filed patents for the basis of digital WiFi. She was brilliant. That's why you being Catwoman is perfect."

The tail disappeared.

Then he looked around the empty white expanse. "Don't we need scenery for this?"

She delicately ran a sharp claw under his chin using her black glove. The claw was an inch long. "Mmm, yes. Your lair or mine?"

He grinned. "Yours."

They were now standing and embracing each other in a large bedroom surrounded by several throw rugs. A king size four-poster bed with a great furry blanket was next to them. Several small cat-like creatures with variously colored coats of fur were lounging around watching the pair placidly.

She pulled him in and cooed into his ear, "Batman, I'm a bad girl."

"Selina, it's not too late for you. You can change."

"I don't know if I can."

"Yes, you can. You can still be saved. Come with me. I'm getting too old to fight crime like this. I'm giving up this life. Let's go. Together."

"You and me? We can go away together, leave this awful city?"

"Yes, now and forever."

"Oh, Batman.."

"It's Wayne. Bruce Wayne."

She pushed him down on the bed. "Bruce.. I want you. Make me good."

"Selina.."

She dove in.

"Ouch! Dang it, Kit, watch the claws!"

"Oops." Sara smiled weakly as she took off the sharp black gloves, "Sorry." She looked down at herself. "Say, why am I wearing high stiletto heels? Catwoman is supposed to be a thief, correct? She cannot possibly run with these things on."

McKay sat up. "You know, Kit, you're really ruining the moment."

"Uh, heh, sorry. Let's try this again. Say, am I supposed to be purring?"

"No!"

* * *

The Guardian and McKay were returning from L5 with 276 dead drones in tow. They were being pulled behind their jumper in a durafiber net that was filled to capacity. Using a detector that McKay had calibrated to detect molybdenum they had identified almost a thousand of them at the L5 point.

Earlier, Lorne had radioed in from L2 that he had discovered a partially intact weapon defense platform. It had apparently been kicked into deep space early in the war, only to drift back to its Lagrangian point again 10,000 years later. The 1.5 kilometer long station had all of the solar panels blasted away, and it was missing much of the protective armor plating that ran along the outside, but the main dorsal cannon was still fully intact.

Lorne speculated that the weapon platform might be salvagable. He sent photos back to Atlantis where Grodin agreed with his assessment. The photos were also transmitted to the Guardian at L5, where she radioed back that although it might be possible to jury rig a repair by sacrificing one of the city's five naquadah generators as a power source, that trying to repair the station would be a waste of time, because it would have been good only for one attack before it was blasted away again. Between the six jumpers they had collected almost 1,200 intact dead drones, of which a large fraction were likely operational enough to use again, so there was no point in trying to repair the weapon platform.

An hour later the Guardian finished doing a series of simple combat training maneuvers with McKay at the helm. She didn't let him try anything too difficult given the precious cargo they were pulling. She hid the fact that Tarai was not happy about being man-handled by the clumsy rookie pilot.

"Kit, I feel sick.."

"Relax, we're done for now. I'll set the auto-pilot. You still need a lot of practice in my opinion, but we can save that for another time."

"Does this thing have a barf bag?"

{ Tarai, I'm sure he's just joking. }

"Are you talking to the ship again?"

"Uh, you are joking, right? Tarai wants to know if you are going to puke on him."

"Yeah I'm fine."

She sighed, "14 more hours of this.."

They travelled in silence.

A half hour later she asked him idly, { Europe? Is that where you'd take me? }

Rodney was learning back in the co-pilot seat, his arms behind his head. "Eh? Naw. That was just the Dark Knight film."

"So where would we go?"

"Hmm. Tahiti."

{ Is that a quiet place without any crowds where you and I could just lay our backs and look at the clouds? }

"Oh yeah. Definitely. White beaches. Us laying under a beach umbrella in our beach chairs, drinking Mai Tais. I'm picturing it right now."

She picked up the image.

{ Oh I like it. Nobody else around. In fact I love it. Wait, what am I wearing? }

"Oh, uh, well, I imagined you wearing your usual white fabric, but as a bikini.."

{ Rodney, I'm practically naked. You know I'd never wear that. I'd get too chilly. }

"But this would be in the tropics, really warm and sunny."

{ I see. I suppose I have enough cloth left to make that.. }

"I'd love to see it on you. I have so much vacation time accrued you won't believe it."

Several more minutes passed in silence.

{ Rodney? }

"Yeah?"

{ I have a fantasy.. }

"Go on."

{ It's kind of silly.. }

"It's okay."

{ I just imagine sometimes, what if we just ran away together? Like in the lucid dream? }

"Run away? Really?"

{ Sometimes I imagine just running away.. }

"You? Running away?"

{ Yeah, I wish I could go to a far away place, just you and me, a place that has never heard of the Wraith, or the war, or has Replicators, or has the Goa'uld, or any other enemy - just a quiet peaceful place where we could just lay on our backs, look at the clouds... }

"Like Tahiti."

{ Like Tahiti. }

"Let me guess, and have intense arguments about astrophysics and quantum mechanics all day long?"

{ Yes. And have intense arguments about astrophysics and quantum mechanics all day long. }

"Nice dream."

She sighed. { Only a dream. }

"Tahiti really exists, you know. A tropical island paradise on Earth."

There was a pause.

{ We both know I'll never get to Earth. }

"Sure you will."

{ No. I'll die here. }

He sat up, worried. "Is that some kind of prediction?"

{ No. I have no real precognitive ability. It is true that pre-Ascendants often have that ability, but I lack it. It is just a feeling I have. }

He tried to cheer her up. "Hey, let's do it. If we get back to Earth from the Alpha Site, then let's run away together."

{ Rodney, you can try to tempt me all you want, but I am still a creature of duty with a mission. }

She sat up. "You have a mission too. I know that in your own way you are as much a creature of duty as me."

McKay waved her off. "Oh bosh. I am a creature of comfort, not duty. Give me my coffee, a comfy chair, and a good physics book, and I'm happy as a clam. I'm also a coward."

She smiled pleasantly. "So you say."

"And sitting in a beach chair is strictly optional."

They did not speak again after that, with each of them lost in their own private thoughts. McKay decided to dismiss the Guardian's prediction as just a case of pre-battle jitters and pessimism.

Other than a handful of thought-leaks from McKay that were mostly related to Tahiti and someone wearing a white bikini, and the manual landing attempt helmed by McKay that dented the jumper, the remainder of the trip was uneventful.

* * *

Sheppard, Zelenka, Weir, Sheppard, McKay, and the Guardian were in the Chair room. Previously, McKay and Zelenka had rerouted the power from four of the five naquadah generators for charging up the drones, of which 500 were now loaded in their bays. Grodin announced that another 500 would be loaded within the next six hours by his team and then enabled upon their passing their built-in internal status checks.

It had turned out that so far over 80% of the salvaged drones were potentially still operational, a rate higher than expected. Based on the molybdenum readings by the six jumpers taken at the four Lagrangian points, McKay had estimated that at least 2000 more drones were still potentially harvestable - more than enough to take at least 1000 back to Earth, given Atlantis' maximum capacity of 2048 drones in its own launch bays.

Sheppard had his arms crossed. "Okay, Genie. Give us the lesson."

"Gladly." She sat in the Chair and placed her hands on the blue gel pads. She leaned back and the chair lit up. "An operator's skill level is determined by how many independent streams of drones that he or she can simultaneously pilot and control at the same time. The elite level is ten."

Sheppard said, "Ten? That's a lot."

"Yes. It takes a lot of concentration at that level. I can't always reach it."

"So how many times have you done this?"

"I have over 1000 hours logged."

McKay was was studying his data tablet. "Let's launch a couple, shall we? I think we can afford to expend a few now, just to verify operational viability."

"Good idea. I'll launch three on independent paths. I might be a bit rusty, so I don't want to push myself yet. Here we go."

Nothing happened.

"Uh, I said, here we go.."

Still nothing.

McKay frowned. He checked his computer tablet. "I don't get it. Power is good. The data connection is good. Sara, are you sure you're hooked in?"

"Of course I am."

She grimaced. "Firing." Still nothing.

Then she realized something. "Oh wait, I forgot to turn off the safety. Heh, silly me. There."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "You forgot to turn off the safety?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Three drones fired.

She concentrated as they took up into the sky, going in three different directions.

Sheppard was nonplussed. "Sara, I know you're busy, but can I ask you a question?"

She was still concentrating. "Sure, anything."

"How many times have you actually fired a drone? I mean a real one, not in a VR simulation?"

"Uh, three."

"You mean.."

Weir gave an expression of surprise. "Sara, you've never fired a real drone before?"

The Guardian looked embarrassed. "Uh, no, not really."

McKay lowered his tablet. "What? You kept bragging how you were this great hot-shot drone pilot! 'Oh I took out a whole hive ship with 50 drones once...'"

She moved the Chair back to its upright position, turning it off. "Dang it, Rodney, I told you! I did all that in a VR simulation! Look, by the time they let me out of the box the city was down to its last 200 drones. They couldn't spare any just for practice!" She glared at him. "Okay, so the VR simulation wasn't perfect, but I'm still rated elite in the sim!"

Sheppard shook his head sadly. He had seen this before. "Sara, that was just a video game. I'm a pilot too, and I know how flight sims are never a substitute for real-world piloting experience. You gotta practice with the real thing. A lot."

She sat back, her face dark as the Chair lit up again. "Fine, I'll go shoot up a bunch of trees on the mainland. There, five away. Happy now?"

She turned and gave Sheppard a nasty grin. "Unless you'd like to fly your jumper up there for me, John, for target practice? I will be happy to shoot at you instead."

"Ha ha. Just keep practicing." He turned to leave.

"John, stay here. You're up next."

He turned back, "Who, me?"

"Yes. When the Wraith figure out that we don't have a shield they'll be sending in waves of darts to beam down attack squads. I will be too busy chasing them around the city, so you will need to man the Chair."

"Right, got it. I'm watching."

"I understand that Beckett also has some Chair time, so get him down here too. There is no power in the infirmary right now so he is probably just sitting on his thumbs anyway."

Weir used her radio to call in Beckett while McKay checked his tablet, with Zelenka conferring with him quietly.

McKay shook his head. "Something is wrong. The first three drones all fired okay, but they are all already out of power. They quit and crashed way too soon. The trickle charge isn't working right, or we are misjudging something with the efficiency rating of the charging system."

The Guardian was still concentrating on flying the remaining five drones. "You two are going to need to figure out that problem yourselves. I'm too busy here."

McKay turned. "C'mon, Radek, let's go."

* * *

The next day the Guardian entered the mess hall at lunch time. It was mostly empty, as the majority of the Expedition's staff had already decamped for the Alpha Site, leaving behind Marine volunteers and a skeleton staff.

She walked up to the serving station. No one was there to serve, and the only food item was a large lidded pot containing processed yeast. She glopped some into her bowl, then she turned to pick a table. She spotted Evan Lorne with several military men seated in a semi-circle. Previously Lorne had given her an open ended invitation to sit and watch whenever she liked, but she politely declined. Still, she was intrigued about what they were doing so she sat near them to quietly listen as she ate.

"Lorne, you got the inside scoop. Tell us, are we gonna live through this?"

"I dunno, Rick. But we're gonna give them a heckuva fight. Remember, the plan is to fall back to the gate. No suicide heroics."

"I don't wanna die.."

"Nobody does. We just have to trust in God."

Another voice spoke up. "C'mon, Rick. We're all gonna die sooner or later, right? Personally I'd like to go out in style, not bedridden with some terminal cancer, or having someone wipe my butt in an old folks home."

"Well, we can take solace in the fact that we'll be with Him. Life is fleeting, it passes by in a flash. He is forever. He'll call us Home."

Lorne then asked, "Anything else? We need to keep this session short."

"Evan, what should I pray? I'm still not that good at it."

Lorne chuckled, "It doesn't matter, Charlie. You're not being graded. It's true that we often don't know how to pray as we ought, but that's okay because the Spirit that is within us will intercede for us and translate our groanings that are too deep for words*5. Just let it come naturally. Or just use Psalm 23. In fact I'll do that right now to close up."

 _The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want._

 _He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters._

 _He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake._

 _Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me;_

 _Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me._

 _You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows._

 _Surely your goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.*6_

"Godspeed, now let's get prepped."

The group broke up.

The Guardian quickly downed her yeast, tipping the bowl and slurping it up in a few gulps, and left.

* * *

The Guardian entered the gate room and saw that the gate was active and a stream of people were walking into it. Weir was busy conferring with someone on the main floor when the Guardian walked up.

Weir noticed her. "Oh, hello Sara."

"Hello Doctor Weir. Is the evacuation proceeding satisfactorily?" She knew that time was running out, with the first hive ship expected to arrive within the next few hours.

Weir was checking her computer tablet. "Uh, yes, thank you for asking. Some of Grodin's team are still here. They will stay until the last minute."

"Anyone missing?"

"Yes, a few." She turned to a Marine. "Sergeant, can you send someone to please fetch Doctor Kurosawa from sublevel 5? She doesn't wear a radio."

The Guardian interrupted, "I can bring her up for you. I was planning to head down there anyway to check on the power systems."

"Oh, thank you very much."

* * *

The Guardian approached Kurosawa's office door. It was already open. She peered in and saw Kurosawa working rapidly on her Dell laptop.

The Guardian knocked on the open door. "Doctor Kurosawa? It's time to go to the Alpha Site."

Kurosawa looked up. "Oh? It is? What time is it? Oh dear, I didn't realize it was so late." As she started to shut down her laptop she asked, "So what brings you down here?"

"I ran into Doctor Weir and she was going to fetch you, so I volunteered."

"Oh that's very kind of you. You want to help me pack and carry this up?" Two boxes were on the floor. "I'm afraid can't carry much myself."

"I'd be happy to." The Guardian bent over and started to help put papers and various small archaeological knick-knacks into the two boxes.

As Kurosawa waited for the laptop to shut down she asked, "So, how are doing, Sara? I'm surprised you are down here. I was expecting you to be very busy getting ready for the upcoming battle."

"Well, everything is basically in place now. It's mainly waiting."

"I see. This must be very stressful for you."

"To be honest I'm more excited than anything."

"Really?"

"Yes. I finally get to do my job and actually do something useful around here."

"That's excellent. And thank you so much for your help."

The two women continued to pack items. The Guardian wondered if she should ask. She finally spoke. "Uh, Doctor Kurosawa?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead, anything."

"Uhm, what do your people believe will happen when they die?"

She stood up and smiled. "Well, we believe that we will be called back Home."

"I've heard that expression." The Guardian thought back to Lorne's final Twelve Step session. "What is meant by that?"

"Well, we believe that life in this world is transitory. We are just pilgrims passing through it. Our proper place is by His side. We rise up and become transformed into spirits."

"That sounds very much like Ascension to me."

"Hmm. I never thought of it like that. I suppose it might."

The Guardian knew that Ascension was actually just a physical transformation of matter to energy with no real change in locality. "The analogy is not perfect. There is no such thing as 'heaven' for the Ascended. They are still living in this galaxy."

"I see. Yes. Well, the real Heaven is a bit different."

"How so?"

"Well, if you read read Revelation 5 you will see that everybody is doing something. Everybody is active. It's a busy place. In Heaven you get put to work. I admit that some of it might seem a bit cliche, like singing hymns in the heavenly choir, but it will still be really interesting. Some people will go to work in other mansions, maybe get assigned roles in physical worlds, perhaps as spirits, perhaps as something else. Some of the roles will be quite powerful. Take Revelation 2 for example. It describes the saints helping Christ to rule 'with a rod of iron'. The greek word is _poimanei_ , which is derived from the word for a shepherd, _poimen_. Paul uses the same word in Acts 20:28 to describe overseers. So apparently some people in Heaven will be given positions of considerable authority and power."

"Interesting. Here let me carry both boxes for you. We need to get you up to the gate."

"Thank so much, dearie." Kurosawa picked up her cane. Together they walked out into the narrow dark hallway and headed out. With the Guardian assisting by holding Kurosawa's elbow, they climbed up the stairs to the transporter booth on sublevel 3. From there they reached the gate room.

"You get going now." The Guardian handed the two labeled boxes off to a younger person who carried them toward the gate.

"Thank you again so much. I'll be praying for you."

"Thank you. I am honored."

Kurosawa smiled. "You know, I must say that your manners are really improving. You are becoming quite a pleasant young lady."

The Guardian decided not to correct Kurosawa regarding her true age. "Well, when I genuinely feel thankful I do manage to say the right words, I guess."

"Yes, you do." Kurosawa hesitated, then she asked, "So, will you be joining us eventually?"

The Guardian looked at her. "No, I don't think so."

"Oh. I'm so sorry.."

"It's all right. Like I said, I'm excited. I'm finally doing my duty, my purpose, which as much as anyone can ask for in this life."

"God bless you. Take care."

"Goodbye."

* * *

Chuck radioed down, _"The first hive ship is coming in. Slow straight-line course. It has three smaller cruisers moving in front of it."_

The Guardian was in the Chair. "Cruisers are in standard trio formation."

 _"This is Weir. We are ready up here. Good luck."_

"Preparing to launch."

"50 drones away. 100. 200. 300. Multitargeting, four streams, on the forward hive and the three cruisers."

Chuck radioed, _"They are reacting. Evading. Looks like darts are coming out."_

She concentrated hard. "I see them. The darts will try to block."

And so, the Second Lantean-Wraith War had begun.

* * *

The Guardian was standing in the control center looking at the big display screen with the senior staff. She looked somewhat tired.

She asked Chuck, "You can confirm the kills?"

Chuck was nodding. "Confirmed. One hive ship and three cruisers neutralized. The other two hive ships left. Long range sensors show both of them are parked just outside of the solar system."

Weir made a sigh of relief. "Good job. Well, I think we won this round. Don't you agree, John?"

John was musing. "They bailed after one hive ship was lost. Huh. Genie, I though you said they'd sacrifice two ships?"

She was frowning. "Yes, it is unusual how they retreated so fast. Wraith are normally much more aggressive than this."

There was a beep, and Chuck whirled his chair back to his station. "Three darts coming in fast! ETA one minute!"

The Guardian was alarmed. "What? Where? How?"

McKay groused, "I bet a cruiser from the second hive ship snuck back in and dropped them off on the far side of the planet."

"But we have a spysat on the far side."

Chuck was shaking his head. "Not anymore. It's offline now. Must have just happened."

The Guardian snarled and ran in a flash to the transporter to head back to the Chair room.

* * *

Sheppard was looking at the main display, which showed no sign of Wraith activity. "Well, that was odd."

The Guardian was nodding. "I agree."

The three darts had just barely managed to reach the city before the Guardian was able to fire drones to quickly eliminate all three. What was odd was that they did not attempt to fire back.

Weir asked worriedly, "Any sign of Wraith inside the city?"

The Guardian shook her head. "I'm not detecting anything."

McKay was looking at the life signs monitor. "No Wraith signs here either. We're good."

Sheppard was thinking. "Hmm, I bet it was a test."

McKay sighed, "Yeah. They were testing.."

The Guardian completed his sentence, ".. the shield. It didn't go up. Now they know."

"Yep."

"I should have killed them while they were much higher up. It's my fault. I left the Chair room for a moment and they managed to sneak in because of it."

Weir reassured her. "Sara, no. Don't blame yourself. You can't be in there all day and night.

"Yes I should. Round the clock."

"You can't.."

"Then we should have rotated between me, John, and Beckett, so it would always be manned day and night. I should have suggested that ahead of time. I still screwed up."

McKay said, "Sara, relax. They were going to figure it out sooner or later."

Sheppard said, "I'll head down and man the Chair for now. I'll have Beckett swap in after."

Weir said, "Good. Keep me posted. Meanwhile the rest of us should take a break. We're all beat. Reassemble at 15:00."

* * *

It was 13:45. The Guardian entered Weir's office. "Doctor, you asked to see me?" Then she noticed Teyla and Doctor Beckett were already there.

"Yes, Sara. Please close the door." She did.

She could feel the tension in the room. "What's going on?" Teyla looked fretful. "Teyla, is something the matter?"

Weir spoke on Teyla's behalf. "Sara, we need to tell you something. Teyla has just informed me that there is a Wraith inside the city."

The Guardian was surprised, shocked, and confused. "What? That's impossible. I don't detect anything. If there was a Wraith lurking anywhere in the city I would sense it immediately."

Teyla approached her with great trepidation. " _Anquietas_ , I am so sorry. I am ashamed that I did not tell you before."

"Tell me before? Tell me what?"

Weir said softly, "Sara, Teyla has the ability to sense the Wraith. It is a secret in her family going back generations. She's sensing one in the city now. She came here to report it to me, and she was going to find you to tell you next, but I asked her to please stay here when she told you so that I can help explain this to you."

"Explain what? Teyla, how are you doing this?"

Teyla was very nervous. "Uh.. I don't know exactly. I just know that some members of our family have always had this ability. We can sense them, even communicate with them telepathically. It's.. genetic."

The Guardian was perplexed. "Teyla, you have no Lantean blood to use mind powers."

"I don't. But I think I do have another kind of blood.."

Carson Beckett spoke up. "I checked and confirmed it. She has some Wraith DNA inside her, a small amount."

The Guardian looked rapidly between them. "Surely you are joking. None of this makes any sense."

Weir said, "I know, but we have to face facts."

"This is ridiculous. I don't smell any Wraith on Teyla at all. I never have."

Beckett spoke up again, "That is because, I suspect, that the pheromones that the Wraith naturally emit are activated by a gene that Teyla does not have."

The Guardian approached Teyla. "You are part Wraith..?" She kept approaching.

Teyla stepped back in abject fear.

Weir interposed herself between them. "Sara, stop!"

The Guardian looked at her innocently. She was confused. "Doctor Weir?"

"You will not touch her! She is not a Wraith!"

The Guardian realized what was happening. "Oh. I see. I'm sorry." Her face had a gentle expression. "Teyla, I have no urge to attack you. None whatsoever. I never have. I apologize if I scared you."

So that explained it. Teyla had always avoided becoming real friends with the Guardian, rarely interacting with her except during a pre-mission briefing or during a mission. They had never met or talked in private. She did sit with her once to look at horses, and a few other times at lunch, but always when others were present, and never alone. She only met the Guardian when other witnesses and potential protectors were present.

The Guardian said softly "Teyla, are you really that afraid of me?"

Teyla replied just as softly, "Yes."

"I never picked it up.."

"I have a well-disciplined mind. I hid my fears."

"I'm so sorry. I called you 'friend' the first day we met, remember? You are my friend then, and you are my friend now. That will never change." The Guardian had a tear in her eye. "Teyla, I will never hurt you. I will always be your friend."

Teyla bowed, "Thank you, _Anquietas_."

Weir gave a sigh of relief. "Good. I am glad this was resolved without violence. Now please, we need to deal with this situation. There's Wraith somewhere.."

Suddenly there was a muffled explosion. Alarms started going off.

They all ran out. Weir yelled, "What's happening?"

Chuck was checking the monitors. "Explosion somewhere in the city."

"Where?"

He checked. His face had an expression of dread. The Guardian already knew. "No.."

"I'm sorry. It was inside the drone launch bays."

The Guardian snarled and ran.

* * *

Laura Cadman was standing just outside the door that led to the large room where the drone bays were located. The Guardian ran up. She saw that Cadman was wearing her EOD bomb disposal suit.

Cadman stepped in front of her. "Whoa! Sara, stop!"

"I need to go in there!"

"Relax, I have a MALP in there. The Wraith blew himself up. He's already dead."

The Guardian growled again. She knew who it was: a Wraith Champion, specially bred, filled with dozens of human souls, given years of mental training to hide his mind from Lantean probes, sent in a suicide mission to take out the drones.

"Let me through!"

Cadman pushed her back. "No! The bomb wasn't that powerful. A lot of the bays are still intact."

The Guardian yelled, "They were being careful not to damage the gate! It's right above us! I need to go in and check!"

Cadman shook her head vigorously. "No! I took some radiation readings with the MALP. Sara, it was a dirty bomb. The room is sleeting with hard beta radiation Over two sieverts per minute*7.

"No! No!"

"Look, nobody can go in there. There's a glowing blob in the center of the room, cobalt-60 I think. I was trying to get the MALP's waldo arm to remove it, but the MALP died. It's just too radioactive in there."

 _"Sara, what's going on down there?"_ It was McKay on the radio.

"Rodney, quick, tell me, how many bays were damaged?"

 _"Uh, the status displays are up on most of them.. checking.. we lost about a third. 450 are still good. We got lucky."_

"Oh thank heavens."

 _"Wait. Aw crap! Crap!"_

"What is it?"

 _"The main power coupling got disconnected. I see the cable on the monitor. It needs to be spliced and reconnected. Crap! That will take at least 10 minutes. It's too delicate for a waldo."_

"Cadman, give me your EOD suit."

She heard Chuck's voice on the radio. _"The two hive ships are moving towards us again. Sublight speed. Six cruiser escorts."_

Laura stepped back. "No way jose. This EOD suit will barely protect you from rads. Look, that is hard beta-ray radiation in there. It will nuke every DNA strand in every cell in your body in two minutes. You'll be the walking dead after that." The Guardian already knew there was no way to regenerate from that much cellular damage.

McKay was inchoate. _"Sara, you are not going in there!"_

The Guardian snarled. She looked at Cadman, who promptly fainted as her carotid arteries were temporarily pinched shut.

The Guardian removed Cadman's heavy EOD suit and put it on herself.

Then she went inside.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* The Milky Way Replicators were destroyed by the superweapon at Dakara in early 2005.

** The Milky Way Replicators had almost defeated the Asgard after the Atlantis Expedition had left Earth, so McKay is underestimating them. (Their power level varied quite a bit during the course of the SG-1 series.) The Dakara weapon had eliminated them all so they are no longer a threat regardless.

*** See Filmmakers Show the Scale of the Solar System in Amazing Video at space dot com.

*4 For story purposes I am assuming the TDK trilogy was released before Rodney had left for Atlantis.

*5 Ro 8:26-27

*6 Ps 23, NASB. (Usually I recommend NIV, but I think the NASB translation is better here.)

*7 See xkcd dot com slash radiation.

* * *

 **A/N Update:**

Answers to some questions:

Q: **Where is Aiden Ford?**

A: Ford is not in this story (his mother got sick). In real life, the series producers (Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper) and the actor (Rainbow Sun Francks) felt that the character of Aiden Ford was not working as intended, so he was changed to a recurring character and a new character (Ronon) was introduced to take his place on AR-1 (cf Wikipedia). I wanted Evan Lorne in the story early so I swapped him for Ford in S1. The Wraith-enzyme-enabled Ford is no threat to Genie so he wasn't a useful antagonist to drive this story.

Q: **Will Todd appear?**

A: He already has (Chapter 5).

Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback in your kind reviews and PM, and as always, thank you for reading.  
-HuuskerDu


	12. Chapter 12: The Siege (Part 2)

**Chapter 12: The Siege (Part 2)**

The Guardian removed Laura Cadman's heavy EOD suit and put it on herself. She kneeled down to check Cadman's pulse, then she rose up and opened the door to the drone bay and went inside.

She closed the heavy door behind her. It was dimly lit; ahead she could see that the middle of the long narrow room was a shambles, with detritus strewn everywhere. In the center of the wreckage was a dull turquoise glow. She could feel the beta radiation from it sleeting through her body. Her eyes saw sparkles where the rays struck her retinas.

She wanted to know where the power coupling was broken, so she used the imager in her left forearm to bring up a schematic of the power distribution layout. However, the imager was not working. She wasn't sure if it was due to her wearing the bulky EOD suit or due to the radiation.

Her radio crackled to life. _"Sara, you are not pulling a Spock hero sacrifice on me!"_

She knew that McKay was watching the life-signs monitor in the main control room. He must have spotted a single white dot moving in to the irradiated drone bay. He didn't need to guess to know who it was.

She tapped her mic. "I'm sorry, my love. We both knew this was going to happen."

 _"No! None of this 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one' crap! Get out of there!"_

"Rodney, this is exactly what we had promised each other, remember? That we would never put ourselves ahead of the city? Well, I am honoring that vow."

 _"Just wait! I'll figure something out!"_

"The Wraith hive ships are on already their way. There is no other option."

 _"There are always options! You of all people should know that!"_

"Just tell me where the power coupling is broken."

 _"No! Sara, please! Get out!"_

She looked down the narrow room to where the glow was. The broken power couple was probably near it. She guessed that she would have to move to within a few meters of that glowing blob to get to it.

She was about to take her first step when she stopped.

She sensed it. She whirled around, but she couldn't see the source.

Something else was in the room with her. A presence.

Where was it?

She turned around again but did not see anything. Satisfied there was nothing there she took her first step when she stopped again.

There it was again. A soundless, still, small voice.

She realized it was inside her own head.

She closed her eyes and listened. Meanwhile McKay was still yelling at her on the radio. She ignored him and focused on the voice instead.

It told her that she was about to commit a selfish act.

What? Nonsense.

She thought the radiation must be affecting her mind. She shook her head trying to clear it.

This was anything but selfish, wasn't it? She was just fulfilling her purpose, the reason she was created, to sacrifice herself for the greater good. How could this be wrong?

It told her the fleet was not here yet; it was merely self-justification.

For what?

She tried to ignore the pull on her conscience as she took a second step, but it kept nagging at her.

She knew that she would not die right away. Given her strong constitution she might even survive a full day, where she'd enjoy a long and teary final farewell with Rodney and the others - a dramatic and blissful reunion that would end with her final peaceful rest.

Meanwhile the Wraith would come, and her story would end beautifully.

Then she heard it again.

The fleet was not here yet. It was too soon.

She was about to go out in a blaze of glory.

 _To glorify yourself._

She shook her head. Surely it was the radiation making her hear things, right? This act would save everyone, yes? The drone bay would go back online and Shepard can fire the drones. It will stop the trio.

But the accusation would not go away.

She was about to make the supreme sacrifice, to be a martyr.

To glorify herself.

And that was wrong.

She understood.

She turned to leave the room. At the same time she heard Chuck on the radio. _"_ _Unscheduled off-world activation. We are receiving Stargate Command IDC."_

As she left she looked up.

 _Thank you._

* * *

McKay ran from the gate room into the short hallway that led to the transporter booth just in time to see the Guardian tumble out of it while still wearing Cadman's black EOD suit. She was carrying a white roll under her arm which she dropped on the floor, then she pulled up and off the top half of the EOD suit. She spotted McKay and tried to move toward him while trying to take off the bottom half of the suit, hopping on her right foot while shaking her left and pulling the left pant leg up and off with the opposite hand. She then scooped up the white bundle with her other hand, and then, while still approaching, she hopped on the other foot and pulled off the other side and started shaking it to kick it away. She succeeded in flinging it away just in time to stumble into McKay.

McKay caught her. He was not happy. "You idiot! How long were you in there?"

She was out of breath. "Don't worry, not that long."

"Please tell me that there was there a dosimeter badge on that EOD suit."

"Relax, the badge didn't turn black." The Guardian tried to peer past him towards the open door that led to the gate room. "What's happening in there?"

McKay was relieved. He glanced at the gate room entrance behind him. There seemed to be a muffled commotion on the main floor.

"A company of Marines gated in from Earth with a bunch of stuff. Commander Big Shot is trying to take over the city, bossing everybody around. Kit, you gotta go in there and lay down the law, tell him you're the boss."

She understood. She unrolled the white bundle and swirled her heavy cloak out and onto her shoulders in one deft motion.

"So, how do I look?"

Her tiara was crooked and her hair was a mess. McKay straightened her tiara for her. He tried to comb her mussed up hair with his open splayed fingers, then he stood back to give her a quick inspection.

"Good enough. You look like a disheveled beauty; it works. Now Kit, you need to charge in there and do your High Imperious Bratty Princess of Atlantis schtick, just like Weir taught you. You remember?"

She recalled how she pulled her Bad Cop act in front of the Vren, blasting away a hillside full of trees in faux petulant frustration per Weir's script. But she did not have a script this time.

"Uh.."

"Just go in there and be all pissed off and scary. You'll do great."

She hesitated, peering into the gate room. She could tell that the argument inside was becoming increasingly heated.

She came to a decision. "No. I can't just march in and do that."

"What? Why not? You scared the [bleep] out of the Vren with your Ancient PO'ed Princess act. I know you can do it again."

{ No. I don't have a script to follow this time. These are allies. The situation is completely different. }

"So what's our plan?"

{ Rodney, I can't afford to mess this up.. }

She turned back and gave him a knowing smile.

{ So I am going to cheat. }

"Cheat?"

{ This is an emergency situation. A Wraith got into the city. That means my ROE is now wide open, all my weapons are free, and my limiter is at 0%. }

"So you're cheating right now."

{ Yes. I will do whatever it takes to defend my city and its people. I will go in there and cheat ruthlessly and play absolutely dirty if I have to. }

"You will?"

{ Oh yes. When I fight the Wraith I do not play nice. }

"So the plan is.."

{ .. to win over Commander Big Shot by any means necessary. }

"How?"

{ No idea yet. I might play the Bad Cop, or I might play the Disney Princess, or I might just be myself. I'll know when I read him. }

"Wow. So this is you with all your shackles off?"

"Yes." She smiled, "Wish me luck?"

He kissed her cheek. "Knock'em dead."

{ Rodney, that hardly seems like a good plan even as a threat.. }

"It's just an expression. Just go."

She peered through the doorway, took a deep breath, then she went inside.

* * *

Colonel Everett had just about enough insubordination for one day. He was getting ready to relieve Major Sheppard of his duties and order Weir to leave the gate room when he spotted a woman wearing white approach. He stopped speaking. Everyone else turned to see what he was looking at.

The woman stopped about 10 meters away. She appeared to just be watching him, her eyes locked on him. He guessed that she was appraising him. After a few seconds she came forward again.

Sheppard was relieved. "Oh good, finally. Genie.." He quickly corrected himself, "I mean, Guardian, thank you for finally coming. Here, let me introduce you to Colonel Dillon Everett, USMC. He and his men have come from Earth to help you defend the city."

Everett nodded at her, "A pleasure to meet you, ma'am." He quickly did his own private appraisal of the Atlantean Princess, the first alien he had ever met. He saw a pair of intense blue eyes that were framed by a hawk-like face. She was wearing an elegant silken white robe over long white sleeves and white gloves, and a intricate silver tiara was set upon her blond brow. To Everett she looked like a princess stepping out of a Disney picture book.

She said simply, "You are now in charge?"

Everett replied, "Yes, ma'am. Orders direct from General O'Neill."

"I see." She turned. "Major, Doctor, do you recognize these orders?"

Weir spoke up. "Yes, Sara, but he wants to.."

She interrupted Weir. "You will address me as Guardian."

"Uh, yes, Guardian. However, he wants.."

"If the orders are valid, what is the reason for your argument here?"

Everett beamed at her. "Exactly, ma'am. Thank you." He looked up at Chuck who was manning his station. "Now will you finally dial the Alpha Site?"

Weir quickly tried to intervene. "Please wait. Guardian, let me explain. He wants to order everyone back to fight, including civilian volunteers. You control this city, not him. It is your gate."

The gate started dialing, and everyone moved away from it.

Weir turned, "Who is doing that?" She looked up at Chuck, who had thrown his hands up.

The Guardian said, "I am."

Meanwhile, McKay had previously and surreptitiously joined the group and was watching silently from the back.

{ Kit, what are you doing? You just kicked Elizabeth and Sheppard to the curb! }

{ Rodney, I keep seeing an image in Everett's mind of of young girl with blond pigtails when he looks at me. I think it is his daughter or granddaughter that he lost in his past. He sees me as her all grown up, I think. The connection is really strong. He might have picked it up from watching my video. }

{ Yeah? So? }

The Guardian looked around and asked, "Colonel, how many ZPMs did you bring? Three I hope?"

{ I will let him continue to see me as his lost daughter or granddaughter. }

{ An act? }

{ No, Rodney. To get maximum protection for my city I will just be myself. No acting. }

"Uh, no ma'am. Just what you see here."

{ So you're gonna just knuckle under. }

"I see. What is this weapon?" She pointed.

{ No, Rodney, you don't understand. A father listens to and cares for his daughter. He will protect the city and give everything he has for me. }

"Captain Radner, please describe the RG/BBT for the Guardian."

A Marine officer with dark hair and a high forehead stepped forward. He looked a little nervous as he addressed the Guardian. She walked over to the large bulky disassembled weapon to get a closer look at it while he described it.

"Ma'am, the Rail Gun / Ballistic Battle Turret is our state-of-the-art close-in defense and anti-spacecraft weapon system, originally designed for mounting on the starship _Prometheus_. The design is similar to the CEWS guns mounted on US nuclear aircraft carriers for point defense, but with much greater power and range. It can fire up to 10,000 depleted-uranium slugs per minute at speeds in excess of mach 5 with an effective range of up to 400 kilometers."

The Guardian's eyes boggled at the partially disassembled weapon. "Oh, this is so delightfully primitive! So brutally elegant! It's wonderful! It's perfect! The Wraith darts will be absolutely stunned with surprise. Tell me, what kind of targeting does it have?"

As Captain Radner's explanation went on, the Guardian caught a vision from Everett.

 _Abigail, happy birthday._

 _Oh grandpa! I love it! It's so beautiful! Thank you! Thank you!_

She whirled back to Everett. "I love it! What other gifts did you bring me?"

Everett chuckled, "If you like those, come over here." We walked over to a set of nasty looking black containers. Four stern men wearing red berets stood guard over them. "Six naquadah-enhanced nuclear warheads, 1200 megatons apiece, proximity fused. The black stealth material absorbs radar with zero EM."

The Guardian clapped with delight. "Space mines!"

"Yes, ma'am."

The Guardian was enraptured with them. "Oh, these are so beautifully crude! We haven't used weapons like these in millennia, only beam weapons. Say, did you also make sure to take into account the thermal IR signature?"

Everett gave Radner a glance. He took the cue and jumped in. "Yes ma'am. Each mine contains a small reservoir of liquid helium as a heat sink. An external temperature sensor adjusts the coolant output to maintain thermal equilibrium of the unit with the ambient surrounding temperature."

"Perfect! Hiding the thermal signature is actually harder than hiding the EM signature, you know. Our jumpers have heat sinks too, otherwise they would light up like beacons in the infrared. Yes, these should work nicely. I just love it!"

She turned to Everett. "These are truly wonderful gifts, and I am very thankful. However, you did omit one. The one I had wanted the most.."

"I am sorry, ma'am. We found a ZPM right under our noses in Eqypt, but only the one."

The Guardian sighed, "Well, even without a shield or drones this will help. Ultimately, however..."

Everett interrupted her. He wanted to explain to her the ZPM situation, but not in public. "Uh, ma'am, can we discuss this in a more secure location?"

"Of course. We should adjourn to the main conference room. Do you know where it is located?"

Everett tried to remember the layout of the tower based on his quick memorization of the schematics. "Uh, I believe that it is somewhere in that direction?" The direction he pointed was slightly off.

"I will show you the way. Follow me!" The Guardian offered her arm, a gesture which Everett did not expect. Her childlike enthusiasm made it almost impossible for Everett to deny her request, so he decided to be a gentleman and took the offered elbow. She then proceeded to happily escort her savior up the steps to the conference room.

McKay was impressed.

{ Kit, that is really good acting. }

{ Who says I'm acting? }

Weir and Sheppard fell in line silently behind Everett and Captain Radner. The Colonel did not notice the pair as he was too preoccupied chatting with the Guardian, answering her questions about how the ZPM was found in Eqypt by Doctor Daniel Jackson.

The Guardian mentally opened the doors to the conference room as they approached, then she made an inviting gesture for Everett and Radner to enter.

Everett looked around the room and nodded. "This will work." He turned and saw Sheppard enter with Weir close behind followed by McKay.

He moved to stop Weir and McKay. "Wait outside."

Sheppard spoke up, "Sir, I understand you need to establish a clear chain of command, but if you cut Doctor Weir out of the loop you'll just alienate the people whose trust and respect she's earned - which is everyone on the base, including me."

Everett raised an eyebrow. "Is that a fact?"

The Guardian interceded, "Sir, Doctor Weir has valuable insights regarding the expedition's people and their abilities, and she has their strong loyalty. We need her."

As he studied the Guardian he said slowly, "Doctor Weir, please have a seat."

She proceeded to sit. However, a pair of Marines blocked McKay from entering.

{ Hey! Kit, tell Everett to let me in! }

{ Rodney, I'm working. Go away. }

The conference room doors closed with McKay still standing outside. The pair of Marines positioned themselves in front of the doors and stood guard, frowning at McKay, who took the hint and left.

An exasperated McKay plopped himself on a chair in the Control Room next to Zelenka. The latter sighed, "When the military takes over us scientists take the back seat."

McKay morosely sat forward with his elbows on his knees and his chin resting on his hands. "Tell me about it. I keep forgetting she's in the military and not a scientist."

"Just wait. They will need us. You'll see."

McKay sat up again. "Yeah. So let's be proactive about it."

"How?"

"Let's see whether you and I can figure out a way to fix the drone bays without nuking ourselves until we glow."

"Right."

They left.

* * *

The military planning meeting was now well underway.

".. The puddle jumpers are not intended to be combat craft. They are meant to be supply transports and blockade runners. They are a relatively new design. So is the city."

Everett asked, "Wait, I thought the that this place was over a million years old?"

"Oh no, that is a mistranslation in the public database. There have been multiple city-arks in our history. This was the last and the greatest, designed specifically as a combined R&D center and defense hardpoint, created about 900 years before the final war began."

"I see."

"The whole city is designed to survive attacks and sieges for many years. As a fallback it can run away, and if necessary it can hide. While under attack its drones provide a highly effective point-defense system. The city was designed to intentionally attract and concentrate the enemy in a kill zone, to draw them away from defenseless worlds."

Everett nodded. "Dien Bien Phu indeed."

The Guardian was confused. "I'm sorry?"

Sheppard spoke up. "I'll explain it later."

The Guardian continued. "The city attracted the enemy as expected, and at first it worked. Our drones, our many battleships, and our powerful defense platforms wiped them out repeatedly. The wreckage from countless Wraith ships and cruisers littered the system.."

Everett stopped her. "I get the picture, thank you. So to summarize, you now have no space capability and no shield, and thanks to the Wraith scout who snuck in you now have no drones either. That about sum it up?"

The Guardian looked down. "Yes sir. I am sorry, but it's hopeless. Without a shield there is no way we can survive."

Everett smiled. "Well, young lady, we might have a solution for that."

"Without a ZPM I don't see how.."

"We are bringing in a ZPM just for you."

The Guardian's head snapped up. "WHAT!?"

He enjoyed her stunned reaction. "Yes, ma'am, we are."

Her eyes lit up like a child at Christmas. "You.. you are?"

 _Abigail, it's your birthday. You can pick any one you want. Go ahead._

"It's coming in on the BC-304, the _Daedalus_ , our newest battle cruiser. The ZPM is mounted inside so it's zooming here like a speedboat. It should get here inside of four days."

 _Grandpa, thank you! I love you! I love you!_

"I love you!" She blinked. Her face turned red as she quickly disconnected her secret mind link with Everett. She recomposed herself. "I mean, uh, I am very happy sir. Thank you for that information."

Everett gave her an indulgent smile, clearly enjoying her reaction. Meanwhile Sheppard was watching the exchange with keen interest.

The Guardian put the discussion back on track. "So, we have four days."

"Yes."

The Guardian brought up the long range sensor display. She pointed at the screen. "We are fortunate that the two incoming hive ships and their escorts are moving in on sublight engines, their standard trio probing tactic."

"Trio?"

"We managed to destroy one hive ship and its cruiser escorts before you arrived."

"I see, well done. That will make my job a little easier."

"We estimate that it will take the remaining fleet about two days to arrive at their current speed."

"Good. That means we have time to prepare. Where are the best places to deploy the RG/BBTs?"

The Guardian brought up a schematic of the city and touched five points on it. Each location lit up as she touched it. "I recommend these locations. They all contain balconies or scenic overlooks with awnings; it is important that you keep your railguns under them. They are partly made of naquadah and should block the dart culling beams. The beams have a maximum deflection angle of 30 degrees, so make sure that your guns are pulled inward far enough so that their gun crews are protected."

"But that will restrict their vertical range of fire."

"You must. After the first wave of dart attacks the Wraith will retreat and evaluate, then they will target your gunners."

"Radner, make a note."

"Yes, sir."

Everett then proceeded with the plan for the outer defense perimeter.

The Guardian asked, "Colonel, can you please explain to me how you intend to deploy the mines?"

"Radner."

Captain Radner explained, "We'll use the jumpers in stealth mode to place them in a blocking pattern between the fleet and Atlantis. Major Sheppard, we were hoping you could help us with that."

Sheppard said, "Yes, but I recommend keeping a couple in reserve."

Everett shook his head. "Negative. We're only gonna get one shot at this."

"We have to consider the possibility.."

The Guardian spoke up. "I think we should do what Sheppard suggests."

"Why?"

"I read in your war history about an aerial weapon called the 'kamikaze' during your second World War. It was very effective."

"Seriously? I can't order my pilots to.."

Sheppard spoke on behalf of himself and the Guardian. "You won't have to." They exchanged looks.

Everett saw the exchange of eye contact. "I see. Well, let's just hope it doesn't come to that."

Everett resumed his briefing. "Sheppard, you will familiarize our ATA pilots with the jumpers. They will become our fighter screen."

"Along with me."

The Guardian was still looking at Sheppard. "John, if the drones come back online I'll need you manning the Chair. I'll be too busy chasing down the Wraith inside the city."

"Yeah, okay."

Everett inspected at the city schematic. "Hmm. If too many darts come in and deploy ground squads, the Wraith infiltrations are going to be our biggest problem."

The Guardian glanced at the schematic and nodded. "Yes. Their goal is capture, not destruction. The city is large and I cannot be everywhere at once. Also, one managed to avoid detection by the city's sensors and my own abilities. That greatly worries me."

Weir said, "We need to find those hidden Wraith. I recommend we let Teyla organize groups of armed Athosians to help patrol the city and look for them. She detected the one in the drone bay."

The Guardian was thinking. "Yes.. she did."

Weir noticed the pause. "You disagree?"

"No.. it's just that well.." She decided that Everett needed to know. "Teyla detected the Wraith Champion because she has some Wraith DNA."

Everett was surprised. "What?"

"Only a small amount, enough to sense them."

Everett looked worried. "Ma'am, that has me a little concerned."

The Guardian sighed, "I very much don't wish to say so, but I am forced to admit that I am also worried. Teyla is susceptible to Wraith mind powers. If she encounters one stronger than her, her mind could be overthrown. She could be forced to reveal everything she knows."

"I don't like it."

Weir said quickly, "How about if we pair up Teyla and her Athosians with our people, share the patrols."

The Guardian said, "Yes, I think that would work. Colonel?"

"Hmm, very well. But I want one of my red berets with Teyla at all times."

"Agreed."

Everett looked around the room. "Anything else?"

No one spoke.

"It looks like we have a plan. Guardian, Doctor Weir, thank you. Let's execute."

The Guardian noticed that Everett had omitted Sheppard from his thanks. Her concern was confirmed when he said, "Sheppard, you stay here. I want to talk with you in private."

Sheppard gave the Guardian another knowing glance as she left. She caught it. Without anyone else seeing him he quickly and silently tapped his head and gave her a questioning look. She nodded in agreement and opened a communication conduit with him.

{ John, why is he making you stay? }

{ I'm just getting sent to the principal's office. I'll be fine. }

{ Let me know if you need anything. }

{ Don't worry about it. He's busy talking to Radner right now. Genie, you've been jacked into Everett's head the whole time, spying on everything he is thinking, right? }

{ Oh, you noticed? }

{ I thought so. Some would consider that dirty pool. }

{ John, I have to. The stakes are too high.. }

{ Hey, I'm applauding you here. }

{ I see. I know you can play dirty pool too, when you have to.. }

{ No comment. }

{ See? We're not so different, you and I. At least during wartime. }

{ I said no comment. Say, can we leave this communication thingy open? Just for now, like you do all the time with McKay? }

{ I suppose I can. I can't leave it open all the time because it's too draining on me. But for now I can open it up whenever you're in the room. }

{ Good idea. Please keep it open with me like this until the battle is over. }

{ Right. }

{ Genie, I'm glad you sided with me on the mines. }

{ Well, I believe your expression is, 'Always save a trump card.' I'm just thinking like you would. }

{ Let's just hope we don't get to that point. }

{ What do we do if there's only one hive ship left? }

{ We flip a coin. }

{ John.. }

{ I mean it. No heroic knocking-me-out crap. Logically it should be me anyway. I'm more expendable than you. }

{ John! }

{ Okay, we flip a coin then. }

{ Agreed. }

{ And no cheating with the coin. }

{ Who, me? }

{ I'm on to your tricks, little lady. }

{ Hah. And I'm on to yours. }

{ Touché, touché. }

* * *

War preparations were made. The railguns were set up at their designated locations, with each gun pulled back just enough under its awning to prevent the dart culling beams from scooping up the gunners.

McKay reported that the drone room was hopelessly contaminated with beta radiation, at least for the time being. The drones were becoming irradiated too, and it would take far too long for the radiation level to subside enough to send in a specially rigged MALP to remove the blob of cobalt-60 before the attack. The Chair would be of no use.

However, plenty of extra drones were still stockpiled in the hanger, so the jumpers would be taking a very active role as the city's fighter screen. Everett's pilots were inoculated with Beckett's ATA gene therapy, and now ten working jumpers had pilots. Sheppard's personal jumper, the one that had jammed in the gate, was still down for repairs, as was the Guardian's own personal jumper due to McKay's botched practice landing attempt.

* * *

450 light years away twelve hive ships floated in space.

Queen Death sat on her throne inside the lead ship. She was inspecting various images that were being transmitted from her forward trio fleet.

She was worried.

The city's drone counter-attack was massive, just like in the old days. But the shield had not gone up. Why did they not raise it?

Her Consort entered her throne chamber. "My Queen."

She was not happy. She pointed at the recorded image of the dart raid. "Explain this. Your plan said..."

He raised his hand. "My Queen, I have good news."

"Yes?"

"Our Champion's infiltration mission has succeeded, far greater than we had hoped."

The queen was encouraged. "It has?"

"Oh yes. They have no power crystals. They are helpless. And there's more.."

She stopped him from speaking. "You have told me all I need to know. Inform the remaining duo to begin the invasion. No retreat."

He bowed, "By your command."

His head rose up again.

He said carefully, "However, I do recommend that we ought to delay the invasion by one day."

"Delay? Why? You said they are helpless."

He told her.

"I see. Excellent. Proceed."

* * *

Two days later McKay was looking at the short range scanner.

"I don't like this."

The Guardian was standing behind him in the Control Room. She leaned in close behind as she extended her arm past him to adjust the wall display to zoom it in. "What are they doing out there?"

The L2 point was now magnified. Both of the remaining hive ships and their two cruiser trios were slowly roaming around the L2 Lagrange point, moving back and forth within it.

McKay frowned. "It's like they are collecting something from all that space junk."

The Guardian asked him, "You think they are grabbing the remaining drones so we can't use them?"

"Maybe. But if that was the case why only L2? We identified over two thousand dead drones across L1, L2, L4, and L5. They must know we can still harvest a lot more from the other three L points. Besides, they don't know how many we already have. I don't get it."

The Guardian said, "Well, it gives us an extra day. The mines are up, and everything else is ready. We should take advantage of the delay to do more pilot combat training."

McKay said absently, "Yeah, go ahead and help Sheppard buzz around. I'll stay here."

The Guardian left as McKay continued to study the display with concern.

* * *

The Guardian entered the gym where Teyla was busy demonstrating anti-Wraith melee combat techniques to Lorne's men and to some of Everett's red berets.

The Guardian had only rarely visited the gym before. In the past Sheppard had invited her to conduct combat training sessions with his men but she had always declined. She explained to him that her own fighting techniques were not applicable to humans. She did, however, describe how to most efficiently kill a Wraith using a P90 and a knife. (Riddle the central nervous system and the heart, and then, if time allowed, decapitate.)

Teyla was wrapping up her training session. Lorne thanked her on behalf of his men. He gave a wink to the Guardian, and they all left.

The Guardian and Teyla were now alone. "That was impressive. You are an excellent fighter."

Teyla bowed to the _Anquietas_. "Your words are high praise. I would be honored if you sparred with me." She picked up a staff and offered it to the Guardian.

"No thank you. I can't."

"You cannot?"

"I mean no disrespect, but I literally can't. Not with you."

"Not with me? May I ask why?"

"Teyla, if it was any other human on this base I could probably do it because there is no chance of them actually getting a strike in. But from what I saw just now you could actually hit me at some point. That must never be allowed to happen."

"Why not?"

"My reflexes are hardwired; I can't turn them off. Those reflexes go directly from my sensory nervous system through my hindbrain to my somatic nervous system. If I was being attacked, my somatic nervous system reacts faster than I can think. If you got a lucky strike in, I might automatically react by seriously injuring or killing you before I could stop myself."

"I see. I have heard you say in the past that you are a living weapon. I did not think you meant that literally."

"No, I was being precise."

"I understand now."

"Teyla, there are two people on this base that I must never fight. One is you, and the other is John Sheppard."

"Really? I have sparred with Sheppard multiple times and have always defeated him."

"I know. He is dangerous for other reasons."

"Oh?"

"When necessary he fights dirty and cheats. Same as me. That makes him the most deadly human on this base."

"I see."

The Guardian picked up a towel and tossed it to Teyla, who proceeded to wipe herself off. With the Guardian's limiter at 0% she was able to now sense Teyla's guarded wariness of her. It was subtle but it was there.

She decided to sit on the bench, hoping it would make her appear less threatening to the Athosian. It seemed to work. Teyla sat next to her as she toweled herself off.

The Guardian spoke carefully. "Teyla, thank you for spotting the Wraith infiltrator. I am very much in your debt."

Teyla replied deprecatingly, "I was merely doing my duty."

"Yes, well. Some day I will try to find a way to repay you."

"That is not necessary. The gate address you suggested for New Athos was ideal for us. All your perceived debts were more than fulfilled by that act alone."

They were both silent for several seconds. The Guardian could sense that Teyla was relaxing her guard a bit. That encouraged her. She said haltingly, "I, uh, still want to be your friend. Not just saying the word. I mean for real."

"I do consider you a friend."

"Thank you." The Guardian added awkwardly, "You are so.. closed to me. I can't tell if you are just saying the word or if you mean it. That's unusual."

Teyla realized she was not being rude to her, just being honest and direct. "I understand. I do admit that some part of me still fears you a little. My conscious mind knows that you are my friend, but my unconscious mind is not quite there yet."

The Guardian said earnestly, "I hope that will change?"

Teyla gave her a gentle smile. "It will, over time."

Teyla looked down. She appeared to be debating something internally, then she turned to the Guardian and said, "As your friend, may I please give you some advice?"

"Certainly."

After a moment she said, " _Anquietas_ , please be careful when you fight the Wraith. It is easy to become caught up in bloodlust. Remember that you are a Lantean. Remember who you are fighting for."

The Guardian looked away and thought for a moment.

"Yes."

She turned back.

"I will try."

* * *

The Guardian and Sheppard were climbing down the stairs from the hanger, having just finished a training exercise with the ATA pilots.

The Guardian said, "John, that is a good tactic. I wish my people had thought of it during the first war."

Given the extra pilots and the Chair being offline, Sheppard had worked out a new method for using the jumpers as a fighter screen. They just finished some trial runs and were pleased with the practice results.

The problem was that although the jumpers had better straight-line acceleration, the darts were more maneuverable than the jumpers. That meant the darts were superior in 1-on-1 close-in dogfights.

Sheppard called his tactic 'Shoot and Scoot': Launch a drone in the general direction of a dart, and then run. The trick was to use two pilots - one to steer the drone into the dart while the second pilot flew the jumper and evaded. Sheppard had gotten the idea from the two-man crews in US fighter jets like the F-15E, a multi-role fighter with two pilots, one being the weapons systems officer (WSO).

Having two pilots in the same ship while flying manually made the work much easier. Now that they had enough ATA pilots to go around, the two-man crew system could be implemented. In their practice runs it seemed to work well, even for pilots using jumpers they were not familiar with. Sheppard's own personal jumper was still damaged as was the Guardian's, so they were both flying in unfamiliar craft.

The main remaining limitation, in addition to the fact that the jumpers could not fire while cloaked, was that each jumper could hold only six drones apiece. A system with a NASCAR-style pit crew was worked out where a jumper could rapidly enter the hanger and be quickly reloaded, then take off again with a fresh load of drones in less than a minute.

Sheppard and the Guardian entered the control room where they saw McKay, Weir, and Colonel Everett all watching the main display panel on the wall. As they walked up Sheppard asked, "Something happening?"

McKay kept his eyes on the display. "Several targets are approaching the mines." He kept adjusting the display. "I'm not sure what they are yet."

The Guardian asked, "Wraith signature?"

"No. They're coming in fast too."

"How many?"

"There are thousands of them, some pretty big. I'm getting naquadah readings. What the hell?"

The Guardian worked the display and zoomed in tighter. "Look! That is a piece of the dead defense station at L2!" The view shifted. "That is a piece of one of our battleships."

McKay understood. "So that's what they were doing at L2 yesterday. They were collecting garbage to chuck at us like meteors. They are throwing our own junk back at us."

The Guardian shook her head. "No. The target isn't us. It's.."

Everett said, "They're headed for the mines."

The Guardian yelled, "Turn them off, quickly!"

Sheppard turned. "Can't they be deactivated?"

Everett said tersely, "No."

Soon four huge white spots appeared on the display.

McKay plopped back into a seat. "Well, that's that. Your mines make one hell of a bang, Colonel - I'm sure the Wraiths' ears are ringing."

The Guardian was in shock. "That's impossible."

McKay looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"No, no.. it makes no sense." She was pacing. "We never used mines before. Too crude. There was no way they could have known."

"Well, they spotted them obviously. The EM stealth must not have worked."

"No.."

Sheppard asked, "Sara, what are you thinking?"

"If they were detected they would have just sent some darts to shoot them. They would not have stopped and wasted a whole day just to collect thousands of pieces of space junk."

McKay understood. "So they knew the mines existed.."

She completed his sentence, ".. but not where exactly."

Everett frowned. "What are you two talking about?"

Sheppard said, "Sir, wait a moment. They're doing their magic. Just watch."

McKay jumped up. "That Wraith. We couldn't detect it, track its movements inside the city.."

".. and it was here for hours before we spotted it.."

".. so what was it doing before it went into the drone bay?"

"The conference room was empty and unattended.. "

".. and it has two entrances, one in the front from the Control Room, and.. "

".. another one in the back that nobody watches or guards."

Everett's eyes widened. "No!"

The Guardian growled and ran into the Conference Room.

When the others caught up she was crawling under the large conference table. McKay joined her by checking under the chairs and the rest joined in.

Her open ungloved hand slowly moved along the back wall. Her hand stopped moving at a certain point. She put her glove back on and punched a hole in the wall with her quasi-diamond gloved fist. She stuck her hand inside and pulled out a bug.

A literal bug. It was squirming. The beatle-like insect was about two inches long and had a small antenna affixed to its back. She crushed the bug between her fingers.

Everett said darkly, "We've been compromised. The Wraith listened in and heard everything that we said in this room. That's how they knew about the mines."

Sheppard said, "They know we still have two trump cards."

The Guardian asked, "Rodney, can you rig a way to remotely pilot two jumpers?"

"Uh.. I dunno. Maybe? The theory behind your mental control isn't well understood."

{ It's in the public database. I'm transmitting the locus to you. }

{ Got it. I'll be in the lab with Zelenka. }

{ I have faith in you. }

McKay ran out.

Sheppard said, "We have to assume that the Wraith know everything we said in here. Fortunately we never discussed Shoot and Scoot."

Everett said, "Then that is our biggest asset right now."

Chuck said on the PA, _"Picking up incoming darts. At least sixty. Moving fast."_

Everett ordered Sheppard, "Get the fighter CAP up."

The Guardian said, "We have to assume some will get through and beam down commandos. I need to stay here to stop them from reaching the gate."

{ Genie, wish me luck. }

{ Happy hunting. }

{ You too. }

Meanwhile Everett left the room while ordering his men to prepare the railguns.

* * *

The dart attack came quicker than expected. They flew in groups of twelve. The jumper counterattack of 'Shoot and Scoot' was effective, and they succeeded in shooting down the majority of the initial wave.

Everett was barking instructions into his headset.

Soon one railgun went offline. Then another, then another.

"What's happening? Gun 3 report!"

The Guardian ran like the wind to the Gun 3 emplacement. Nobody was there.

She yelled into her radio, "They were culled!"

 _"How?"_

"I don't know!"

Her keen eyes saw Gun 4 in the distance, about halfway up the South Tower, with tracer bullets sweeping the sky. A dart flew in low, and then she saw a culling beam.

The beam was nearly horizontal. She saw the dart neatly scoop up the firing crew and Gun 4 went silent.

"The bug! It told them about the 30 degree limit!"

The Wraith had overheard the Guardian's advice to Everett, so they had modified their culling beams with a greater deflection angle to go right under the awnings to grab the gun crews.

 _"Dammit! Gun 5, pull back your rig!"_

Another voice said, _"Wraith life signs in the city. Grid references B4, B6, C2, E5, more."_

C2 was a nearby naquadah generator location. The Guardian snarled loudly and ran to it, where she quickly spotted four Wraith. They were ready for her, firing their stun weapons while crouching behind protected positions. She had her thermo-optic cammo turned on and they were firing blindly in her general direction. There was a rush of air as she moved behind them. In one balletic motion she kicked out the spine of the first Wraith and whirled to punch the second through the heart, and then in a single sweeping motion she snapped the neck of the third with a high kick while simultaneously firing her palm-mounted energy transfer device at full power to drill a hole through the chest of the fourth.

She saw one of the dead Wraith still clutching a small rectangular device. It was a Wraith life sign sensor. She saw a blinking white dot at her location.

So. They could track her now, at least her general location. But it still wasn't accurate enough to get a weapon lock. She had no time to consider it further as she ran to B4.

She killed the Wraith at B4, B6, E5, E2, D1, D4, C3.. She had lost count. After E2 she had to turn off her thermo-optic cammo because her bioenergy packs were getting low. By C3 they were drained completely, and she was now burning her limited energy reserves from her own body.

Sheppard was also becoming exhausted. He was the only pilot flying solo, as he felt that he could both shoot and scoot better by himself. By now he had shot down at least 20 darts all by himself, but they still kept coming. They seemed endless.

He kept hearing reports about the ground invaders all over the city. He estimated that for approximately every ten darts they had shot down, one managed to get through to land troops. So far two jumpers had been lost versus over 100 darts. Normally a 50-1 combat loss ratio could be considered a victory, but not with the Wraith. They simply kept coming.

In his exhaustion he did not see a dart that had managed to sneak up behind him. He jinked hard to the left but the dart got a lucky shot on his right aft engine pod. Alarms sounded as smoke filled his jumper. He guided it in for a very bumpy landing on the South Pier's landing pad as the dart flew away to deposit its troops.

He cursed and unbuckled his seatbelt. He knew the transporters were all down, so that meant a long hard run and stair climb back up to the hanger at the top of the central spire to get another jumper. He tumbled out of his smoking jumper at the end of the pier and started running towards the South Tower.

He went inside to run through it. It was dimly lit, with emergency lights only. As he ran he heard faint hisses and snarls ahead of him in the distance. He pulled out his pistol and moved slowly forward.

There he saw an amazing sight. He found the Guardian slashing at a group of Wraith in hand-to-hand combat, fully visible. She was slathered in black blood, twisting and moving like a wild animal, teeth bared, eyes flashing. Soon all the Wraith were now dead but one, a Wraith Champion.

He was huge. Bare chested, covered with tattoos, filled with over a dozen human souls, he looked invincible.

The Guardian snarled a challenge. The Champion roared back his own. They circled each other warily while Sheppard watched. Both were bare handed. Then there was a blur of motion and swooshing sounds, followed by a sickening crunch. The Wraith Champion was now flat on its back with the Guardian's knee crushing his throat, pinned and defeated. She removed her knee as a pool of black Wraith blood flowed out from underneath him.

Then the blood stopped moving and reversed itself. The Champion was regenerating. His neck repaired itself.

The Wraith was still trying to stand up when something happened.

Sheppard was stunned. He would never forget what he saw for the rest of his life.

The Guardian had removed her right glove and had slapped her open palm on the Wraith's chest. Her eyes lit up with ecstasy as the Champion writhed in howling pain.

 _"See this tube that runs up her arm into her palm where it spreads out to these metallic flanges just under the skin?"_

 _"You mean she's part Wraith?"_

 _"Actually I think it's the other way around... I think she's much closer to the original design than they are."_

As she finished her feeding, the Wraith Champion had shriveled up to a dry dessicated corpse.

She stood and roared with power. Her biopacks were now at 500% energy.

Sheppard stood dumbfounded. { Genie..? }

She whirled to face him, battle ready, panting like a tiger. She nearly pounced at him, feral, stopping herself just in time.

Her eyes blinked as she finally recognized him. She took a step back.

{ John, no. Don't look. Don't look! }

{ What are you? }

More radio chatter. Wraith commandos were still beaming into the city.

She turned on her thermo-optic cammo and disappeared.

Sheppard stepped over the shrivelled corpse and continued his run to the hangar.

* * *

Hours later the battle finally ended.

The Wraith dead had far outnumbered the humans, by at least 10 to 1, but it was still too many. Four gun crews were missing. Colonel Everett himself was attacked. Captain Radner was able to pump enough bullets into the attacking Wraith to stop it mid-feeding, preventing Everett from being completely drained.

The pair of hive ships retreated back to L2.

* * *

The Guardian was waiting in the hangar for Sheppard to join her. She was calm and composed. He saw that she had somehow removed all of the Wraith blood stains from her battle suit.

The nukes were already loaded by Everett's red berets. Weir knew, but McKay was not told. The Guardian and Sheppard entered their respective jumpers and took off in silence.

By unspoken agreement neither had said goodbye to their respective partners before their kamikaze runs. She couldn't face McKay after what had happened.

A radio message light from the city appeared on her dashboard. She ignored it.

As the pair of nuclear-equipped jumpers were nearing orbit he spoke into his radio, which was set to short range transmission only. "Switch to private channel 21, scramble."

"Copy."

"Which one do you want?"

"I'll take the nearer one."

"I'll take the other."

"We need to hit them both simultaneously."

"Do the speed corrections as we approach."

"Cloaking now, leaving orbit."

"I'm right behind you. Keep the radio at low power, short range."

"Copy."

They flew for almost an hour in silence.

Finally he asked, "So.. you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

More silence.

Fifteen minutes later she heard him again. "Did you know you could do that?"

She finally decided to answer him. "Nobody told me. My memory is vague but it happened at least once before, I think."

"It must be an automatic response when you are low on power and Wraith are near."

"John, I am not a Wraith."

"I never said you were."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"Nope."

"I don't want Rodney to know."

"Well, I ain't telling him now."

"Good."

"Beckett thinks you pre-date them. Your design, or whatever."

"I don't see how. The Wraith evolved over 100,000 years ago, a genetic mixup between a human and an Iratus bug."

"That's what your public database says. We both know it's full of BS."

"John, we would never create the Wraith!"

"Didn't say your folks did. Maybe it was an accident?"

"That's ridiculous."

"Well, something happened that got your people all bent out of shape enough to make them completely ban doing genetic modifications."

More silence.

She finally said, "I'm sorry."

"Hey, I had a good run. You too."

"Yes. I have no regrets. Except for one."

"I know."

"John, I know you have one too."

"Eh?"

"My limiter was at 0%. I picked it up from both of you as she watched us take off for the training run."

"Picked what up?"

Silence.

He added, "Genie, I know the rules say you are not supposed to reveal another person's thoughts. But hey, if we're both dead.."

"John, you already know what I'm talking about."

Silence.

Finally he said, "Yeah."

"She would never have made the first move. You had to do it."

Silence.

"But you weren't sure."

Silence.

"John, would you like to know?"

More silence.

Finally, "Yeah."

"She would have said yes."

Silence.

"Thanks."

15 minutes later.

"I figured out that it was you who blew up that Wraith in the brig. I watched the tape at least 50 times. He flew apart simultaneously everywhere. No explosive compound does that. Then I zoomed the video in and could see blurry bits of him deflecting around your head where you had that protective energy shield up over your face."

She sighed, "I thought so. I have an internal shield as a failsafe, the same as the external one Rodney was wearing. It's surgically implanted. I use it very rarely because I can't recharge it."

"Genie, you are so full of cheats."

"War isn't supposed to be fair."

"No it isn't."

Another 15 minutes.

"John, I almost gave in. It was very close."

"Yeah, just my luck."

"Well, it wouldn't have worked out between us anyway."

"Oh?"

"Laura Cadman explained it to me. She said that girls like the bad boys, but they end up marrying the good ones."

"You saying I'm a bad boy?"

"Yes, you're a very naughty boy."

"Well, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Silence.

"Coming up on L2. I need to speed up on the farther one so we hit them at the same time. Accelerating."

"Go for the dart bay. Time for radio silence."

"Goodbye, Genie. It's been a pleasure serving with you."

"Likewise. Signing off."

* * *

 _"Major Sheppard, Guardian, please de-cloak immediately."_

* * *

McKay and Weir were watching the display panel.

Two bright lights appeared, then faded.

Chuck said quietly, "Both targets were neutralized."

Weir wiped her face. "They did it."

McKay was numb. "Yeah."

 _She didn't even say goodbye._

* * *

Sheppard whirled around, disoriented. He was standing on the bridge of the _Daedalus_.

Colonel Caldwell was sitting in the captain's chair. He pushed the intercom button. "Doctor Novak, did you get the Guardian?"

 _"Hermiod reports that he was not able to get a lock. He said that something blocked the transport beam, then he lost the target."_

Sheppard quickly assessed the situation. Yes, by a miracle he was still alive. But where..?

He collected his wits as he walked towards the front window of the bridge. He saw two large glows fading away in space.

He turned to Caldwell. "She teleported out of the jumper. Used her shield I bet. She might still be floating in space out there. We gotta find her!"

Five Wraith cruisers were now targeting the Daedalus. Caldwell said testily, "Major, I'm a little busy right now."

A sixth cruiser had collected some darts and was turning away from the battle.

Sheppard pointed. "Don't let that ship get away!"

It was too late. The sixth cruiser had already jumped into hyperspace. The remaining cruisers then retreated and jumped away as well.

Sheppard stared at the empty expanse of space.

* * *

The Guardian was dreaming. Or was it a nightmare?

In her dream she had teleported out of the jumper with her shield up. A dart. A culling beam. Nothingness.

She awoke on a rough hewn table. She could feel some kind of large ugly metal clamp holding down her head like a vise. She was not otherwise tied down, but her limbs refused to move. She looked up and recognized the dark mottled organic roof of the chamber.

She was inside a hive ship.

"Ah, you're awake. Good."

She was able to slightly turn her head. She saw a tall Wraith with a star-shaped tattoo over one eye.

"Welcome back."

Forgotten memories began to return. She recognized him. 6,000 years ago, she was captured just like this. Except last time he had used a weakened Iratus bug to keep her paralyzed.

The Wraith showed her a broken tiara, an older one with a different design. "The last time you escaped you left this behind. It was damaged, but I managed to reverse-engineer enough of it to create this crude facsimile of it. Basically it mimics your limiter at 100%. The paralytic is an added feature. I admit it is not nearly as elegant as your own device, but it serves its purpose, don't you think?"

It was him. The Wraith that she called Talker.

"It's you. Talker."

"Talker? Is that what you called me? Ah, I see. I suppose I do like to hear the sound of my own voice. I admit I am a little odd for a Wraith. Yes, I do like to talk. I also like to experiment. I'm a scientist, you see, just like your Doctor McKay. But unlike him I have a bit more ambition. My real name is Guide."

He continued his monologuing. "You should be thankful. I saved your life 6,000 years ago when my previous Queen Death had defeated you in a one-on-one mental battle. That battle was extraordinary. You almost won. She was never the same after that. In her weakened state it allowed me to exert my influence over her. Thank you for that, by the way.

"She was going to mind-rape you and drag out every bit of knowledge you had, every secret of the Lanteans, but she was too weak at that point to do so. Instead she turned you over to me for the mind extraction.

"I was curious about you. Your abilities. So I first examined you. Your body, my dear, is full of all sorts of interesting little Lantean gadgets, like that prototype feeding device. I also made a neural map of your brain. It was fortunate for you that I did so, because I discovered the Termination Fuse embedded in your medulla.

"If your mind was ever broken and overthrown, the Termination Fuse would trigger and kill you instantly and painlessly. You are very fortunate. If I had not spotted it, it would have fired and we would not be having this delightful conversation right now."

This was a conversation? It was decidedly one sided.

"Oh, by the way, did you know that you have three Command Words embedded in your brain? One for Paralysis, one for Control, and one for Termination. Let's see.."

He was looking at a display monitor. "Hurr.." He was not happy.

She finally asked, "Something wrong?"

He looked up at her. "I'm comparing your current neural scan with the old one. It appears that someone has already used the Command Words for Paralysis and Control. Only Termination is left. I need to disable that, but it might take time."

"You know my Termination Word?"

"Oh yes."

"But then why didn't you use it.."

He approached her. "Oh, I would never do that. It was the whole point of the invasion, you see. To capture you. Alive. No other reason."

"I.. I don't follow.."

"It's quite simple. Whoever controls you controls the city. Whoever controls the city controls the gate. All we need to do is control you, and we have everything we need. And, as a bonus, we get all the information in your pretty head including access to your amazing Forbidden Archives."

"You, my lovely dear, are the gateway to power beyond your imagination, in ways that you still do not fully comprehend." He sighed, "I am rather annoyed that someone has already used your Control Word. It will make things more difficult."

"Just kill me and get this over with."

"Oh, you would like that I'm sure. Be a heroic martyr. Die a good death. Yes? No, I could never allow that, dear grandmother."

She tried to raise her head. "What did you call me?"

"I called you grandmother for a reason. You see, the queen that laid my egg could be called my 'mother', and your kind, the _Valkyrja_ , were the original prototypes for a biological Lantean super-solider that could sustain itself indefinitely on the battlefield by feeding on its fallen foes. Your kind served as a biological template for an illegal experiment that took place about 900 years before the war began by some Lantean scientist who was trying to achieve physical immortality*. The experiment went wrong, and it created us instead. That is why I call you grandmother."

"We would never do that!"

"Oh, you did. Not intentionally, but you did. Then your kind created the Replicators to try to stop us. Hurr.. such hubris. Well, we are the perfection of those original experiments." He was holding a large syringe with a long needle. "Now, this won't hurt."

He jabbed the needle deep into her thigh, striking and piercing the bone.

"Aaah!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I lied."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm extracting some adult stem cells from the bone marrow in your femur. I tried to use regular cells the first time. My mistake. I was inexperienced back then. Then you escaped. How did you do that by the way? We all thought you were dead. You can imagine my delight when word reached my new Queen Death about your apparent resurrection. I was overjoyed."

He pulled out the needle. The syringe was filled with bone marrow. "There. Plenty of adult stem cells for the union."

"Union?"

"Yes, my dear. I will attempt to fuse your DNA with my Queen's DNA. A new species. Can you imagine? A Wraith-Lantean hybrid that has all the abilities of both Wraith and a pre-Ascendant Lantean. Not to mention that you have a working digestive system. You see, our greatest weakness is our dependence on our limited food supply. We will still feed on humans of course, but it will be more like a delicacy than a requirement. All those billions of delicious humans.."

An alert noise beeped on a console. Guide walked over to it. He frowned.

He brought up a display image in front of the Guardian. "What kind of ship is this?"

She saw a strange looking ship with a configuration that she had never seen before. It was a bit smaller than a Lantean battleship but not by much. She saw two large landing bays, a rather impressive looking beam weapon, and railgun turrets.

"I have no idea."

He looked at display monitor that showed her neural output. "You are telling the truth." He turned away to look at a different display monitor.

Wait, railgun turrets..

 _The Rail Gun / Ballistic Battle Turret is our state-of-the-art close-in defense and anti-spacecraft weapon system, originally designed for mounting on the starship Prometheus._

{ Rodney! }

{ Sara! I hear you! Where are you? }

Guide was busy looking at a different monitor and did not see the sharp increase in her neural activity.

{ I'm on a slab in a hive ship. They have a limiter clamped on my head and I'm paralyzed. }

{ How are we talking then? }

{ The Bond bypasses my limiter, remember? }

{ Oh good. Kit, I thought you were dead.. }

{ I'm sorry. Can you find me? }

{ Uh, yeah. I have your general direction. We're in a cloaked jumper approaching your hive ship. There are twelve of them. You're in the lead ship. Ugh, scary. }

Guide moved back to look at the neural display. He saw abnormally high mental activity in her pre-frontal cortex. "Hurr.. what are you doing?"

"I'm just imaging all the creative ways I'm going to deal with you before I kill you."

"Hmm. I see that you are lying."

"Who, me?"

"Yes, you. Are you communicating with someone?"

She refused to answer.

"I see that the answer is yes. How are you doing it?"

She wasn't talking.

"Hmm." His lie detector could only detect lies or attempts to hide the truth. It could not reveal hidden information.

"You need to go to sleep." He pushed a button and she lost consciousness.

He frowned and left the room.

* * *

The next thing the Guardian remembered was waking up in the Atlantis infirmary.

She sat up quickly and saw Doctor Beckett smiling at her.

"Hello, lass. Welcome back to the land of the living."

The doctor's eyes glanced behind her and she turned her head to follow.

She saw McKay sitting next to her on the other side of the cot.

"Sara, we have got to stop these meetings. And no more heroic suicide attempts, okay?"

She grabbed him. "Oh, Rodney, I'm so sorry.."

He looked at Beckett, who took the hint and left.

She asked, "What happened? Is the city safe?"

"Yep."

"But.. the _duodecim_.."

"It's okay. I took care of it."

"How?"

"I blew up the city."

She gave him a look. "Rodney McKay, I am not in the mood for listening to your strange sense of humor."

"No, I did. I used the cloak-emitters in the jumpers to hack the shield to also work as a cloak. The _Daedalus_ dropped a nuke on the shield while it was turned on, which we made to look like a self-destruct, then I flipped over to the cloak while the mushroom cloud was still hiding us from orbital view. The whole city is invisible. It worked. The Wraith left."

"You're kidding."

"Takes some energy, but hey, with a ZPM you can do anything, right?"

"Rodney, you thought of that all by yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Without any help from me?"

"I get 100% credit this time."

"My love, you're amazing."

He basked in her effusive praise. "Thank you. And you know the best part?"

"No.. what?"

"The SGC is on track to locate a second ZPM. If they do find one, that means we can go back-and-forth to Earth. Hey, you want to take a little vacation with me?"

"Yes." She thought a moment. "Tahiti?"

"Kit, it's like you can read my mind."

* * *

 _45 days later_

The senior staff of the Atlantis Expedition watched the Daedalus land on the South Pier. The Guardian's eyes were shining brightly, and she was positively giddy with anticipation.

The hatch opened and Colonel Caldwell emerged. A certain faint smell eminated from the hatch. He looked rather put off. He made a perfunctory salute to Colonel Sheppard as he drew in a large breath of fresh clean sea air.

"Finally. After that smell."

Sheppard made a grin. "Sir?"

"I can't believe it. Converting my F-302 fighter bay into a grainary and horse stables? Do you have any idea how much manure 24 horses can make in 19 days?"

"Uh, no sir."

Teyla spoke up. "I hope you saved it. It is most excellent fertilizer."

"You can have it. All of it."

McKay was smirking.

{ Now, Pooh Bear, be nice. }

{ I told you to stop calling me that! }

{ Rodney, it is my secret term of endearment for you. You call me Kit, so I will call you Pooh Bear. Pooh Bear. }

{ There is no way you thought of that on your own. You got that from Sheppard. Admit it! }

{ Who, me? }

{ Kit, you can't lie to save your life. }

One of Caldwell's assistants walked up to Weir holding a clipboard. "Doctor Weir, here is your requested consignment: 24 horses, 150 bushels of seed corn, 50 bushels of plantable raw potatoes, 100 bushels of Canadian winter wheat, 30 bushels of sorghum seed, and 50 bushels of raw soybeans. Sign here." She did.

"Two of the horses are marked as gifts." They had been delivered directly from the Everett Stud Ranch in Montana.

The group watched two magnificent animals being escorted out of the figher bay. Caldwell's assistant explained, "This one is Snowmane, an Arabian stallion for the Guardian. This one is Sapphire, an Arabian mare for Teyla. Congratuations, you are now the owners of these horses."

The Guardian ran up and beamed at Snowmane. He reacted, whinnying and stamping a hoof.

{ Kit, are you talking to that horse? }

Sheppard said quietly to Weir, "Yep. She's a horse whisperer. Shoulda known."

* * *

The Guardian and Teyla had just finished delivering the bundle of magic seeds to P49-K27, along with written instructions on how to plant them and harvest them. They were being handed out to worlds that had agreed to the proviso that at least 50% of each crop for the first three years be allocated to additional seeds for distribution on three other worlds, and with instructions for those worlds to spread the seeds to three more, and so on.

The Guardian said, "Well, that's that."

"This is a nice world. Almost as pleasant as New Athos."

"Yes, it is." The Guardian patted Snowmane from her saddle.

The sun was setting along the high ridge. "We should head back to the gate before it gets dark."

A crowd had gathered to gawk at the woman wearing white while riding upon the great white stallion, an animal that no one had ever seen before. The Guardian saw the crowd and asked Snowmane to rear up for them. He did gladly, rising on his rear legs as the Guardian's cape whipped in the wind.

"Let's ride!"

The pair galloped off into the sunset.

One of the villagers was a painter. The amazing vision he saw that day of the white horse and its angelic rider rearing up had impressed itself upon his mind, and he drew a painting that would soon become famous: copied, redrawn, copied again, photographed, and shared from world to world across the Pegasus Galaxy. And that image, in simplified stencil form, would soon became a secret political symbol of resistance against the Wraith. It was shared, copied, hidden, given between families, between villages, and soon across whole worlds, as a mighty symbol of hope and deliverance from the monsters that controlled the heavens:

The White Rider.

* * *

Guide was thrown to the ground in front of Queen Death, the whip marks from his punishment still bleeding from his back.

His fingers grasped the floor as she continued to berate him, blaming him for the entire debacle. Losing the Guardian, the city, Earth. All of it. He barely escaped with his life.

Some time after he recovered from his wounds he received a secret transmission from his intelligence network. One of his human Wraith worshippers reported seeing a woman in white riding a great four-legged animal while distributing magic seeds.

He thought a moment, then he sent a reply.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* See the official novel _Stargate Atlantis: Secrets_ (2012), the fifth novel in the _Stargate Atlantis: Legacy_ series.


	13. Chapter 13: The White Rider

**Chapter 13: The White Rider**

Teyla and Sheppard woke up and found themselves tied together inside a cave on P3M-736.

Sheppard tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head. He felt Teyla's back pressed against his own. "Teyla, you ok?"

Teyla replied a bit groggily, "My head is pounding. Where are we?"

"I don't know. I was just about to ask _him_."

Teyla saw a big muscular man crouching near the cave entrance. As the man turned Teyla saw a pair of black slanted eyebrows that made his face look like a perpetual scowl. His coarse dark-brown hair was tied into ropey dreadlocks that extended down below his shoulders. He wore a rough leather vest that was stained and torn, and in his hand was a large pistol-shaped energy weapon.

Sheppard was about the speak again when the large man turned and whispered, "Someone is coming." He waved his weapon towards the pair, "Stay quiet, or I'll stun you again." They obeyed.

The large man peered out and saw a curious sight. In the distance he could see a figure dressed in white who was clearing the hilltop. The figure was riding some kind of strange four-legged animal that he had never seen before.

The rider reached the bottom of the hill and dismounted. The animal turned and trotted off into the woods by itself, then the person began walking in the general direction of the cave.

He could now tell that it was a woman. She was wearing a white hood and a white cloak that was wrapped around her body. She was soon in range of his gun, but he refrained from shooting at her. Instead he pulled back and waited, certain that she had not seen him.

The woman stopped a dozen meters from the cave entrance and said in a clear voice. "Hello. May I come in?"

So the woman had somehow spotted him after all. He decided to show himself openly, his blaster pointed squarely at the strange visitor.

The woman said plaintively, "I am not armed. I merely wish to talk with you." The woman opened her arms wide to reveal the inside of her cloak. He could see she was not holding a weapon and that nothing was hidden inside the cloak.

He lowered his own weapon a bit. He yelled back, "What do you want?"

She closed her arms and enwrapped herself in the cloak again. "You are holding some friends of mine in that cave. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to please release them."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"They're my insurance so I can reach the gate. Your people have it guarded."

"Oh? I will give you access to the gate if that is what you wish."

"Can you?"

"Yes. I own the gate."

The large man was confused. "You 'own' the gate?"

"Yes. I am what you call an Ancestor or an Ancient. The gates are mine."

The large man made a face. "Bull. The Ancestors are dead."

"I assure you that I am alive."

"They are dead." He spoke with unexpected venom, "If the Ancestors were still alive they would have stopped the Wraith."

"I understand. I owe you an apology. May I come in?"

The large man looked at her placid face. He saw her regal features and the silver tiara on her brow. She was everything that he had imagined an Ancestor might look like. He grunted and turned back and re-entered the cave without speaking, his weapon still in his hand but now pointing towards the ground.

The Guardian interpreted his silent withdrawal as an invitation, and she walked into the cave, stopping just inside the entrance. She saw Sheppard and Teyla tied up in the back. "Hi John. Hello Teyla. Doctor Weir asked me to check on you two. I know this is technically not my jurisdiction, but I owe you and the Expedition a few favors, so I thought I'd stop by and say hi."

Sheppard said gamely, "Hi Genie, we appreciate the thought."

For the Guardian 'a few favors' was an understatement. The sacrifices of the Expedition and Everett's men in giving their lives during the siege of her beloved city had saved both the city and herself from the clutches of the Wraith. If before she felt some kinship with her 'family' (as Sheppard had so eloquently put it) as her allies, she now felt even more duty bound and obligated to provide as many favors as they might request of her. Weir was wise enough not to overburden her with such requests, so she was mainly asked to bail out AR-1 and the other recon teams whenever they got into serious trouble.

About a third of Everett's Marines did not survive the battle. Everett himself almost did not survive either, having been fed upon by a Wraith. After the battle the Guardian had made a point of visiting him at his cotside, waiting first for Sheppard to depart the infirmary. She could sense Everett's reconciliation with him, for having been fed upon himself he had realized that Sheppard had done the right thing for Colonel Sumner. As Sheppard left he gave her a look that only one soldier can give to another just after a hard fought battle. She returned it. After that she approached Everett's bedside. She could not remember exactly what she had said to him, only that she fumbled through her words of gratitude. His smile told her that she must have said the right words. She then quickly tried to explain how to recover from a partial feeding: drink plenty of fluids and electrolytes, start PT exercises to rebuild muscle tone and stamina, eat plenty of protein, and that his emaciated and shrivelled features would look better, and that if he was diligent he might regain several years of his stolen lifespan back. She was babbling and she knew it, but she didn't know what else to say to him. He finally put his hand on her arm to stop her. He said he appreciated the time she took to visit him given how busy she be in the aftermath of the battle. He finally had said, "It's too bad I can't tell anyone what happened. It'd be a great story for my grandkids." She tearfully agreed and thanked him again when she was called back upstairs. She had left him feeling that her thanks were still woefully inadequate, a feeling that only intensified upon her receipt of the wonderful gift from the Everett Stud Ranch 45 days later.

The Guardian appraised Teyla and Sheppard's condition inside of the cave, and she could tell that they were both unharmed. She turned and addressed the large man, who was still holding his weapon. "Sir, I am impressed. You were able to capture both John Sheppard and Teyla Emmagan, the two best fighters under my protection, and you did so without injuring either of them. That was well done. My I ask what is your name and where you are from?"

The large man growled, "Specialist Ronon Dex of Sateda."

Teyla spoke up, "A Satedan? Guardian, the Satedans are reputed to be the best warriors in the galaxy. Please be careful."

The Guardian was pleased. "Really? My, my." She turned to Ronon. "And by 'Specialist' I assume that is a military rank and that you are a soldier?"

"Was. The Wraith attacked my world."

"I see. And that dead Wraith body on the other side of the hill? Did you kill it?"

"Yeah. He was hunting me."

"Hunting you? You are a runner?"

"Yeah."

"How long?"

"Seven years."

The Guardian was even more pleased. "Hmm. An elite warrior and soldier who survived seven years as a runner? I change my mind. I'm not going to escort you to the gate."

Ronon raised his weapon again. "You will let me pass."

"And if I don't?"

Ronon fired. The blast struck the Guardian's cloak harmlessly. He prepared to fire again, but there was a flash a light and she was gone before he could get the second shot off.

He now sensed someone standing close behind him. He whirled around intending to give a slashing chop to her neck but there was another flash of light and she was gone again. He whirled back and saw that she was standing in her original position at the front of the cave.

He gave her a slight and respectful nod. "You really are an Ancestor."

"Good, I'm glad that you finally.."

Without warning he snapped up his blaster and fired right at her face. The energy blast bounced off a disc-shaped shield that appeared in front of it a split second before it hit.

The Guardian was even more impressed. "My, that was good. You tried to catch me off guard by falsely accepting my identity as a Lantean, hoping to sneak in a surprise head shot."

He grunted, "Nobody is that fast."

"And you fired with your weapon at me set to stun, not to kill. Well done. You use measured force, which shows discipline. Yes, you are greatly impressing me."

"You reacted before I even moved. Wait, are you reading my mind?"

"My, you are observant too."

Sheppard spoke up, "Careful big guy. She cheats."

Ronon holstered his pistol. "Yeah, I can tell."

Sheppard added, "You really ought to be nicer to her. She can make your whole body explode with just a thought. And she's killed more Wraith than I can count."

The Guardian sensed Ronon's strong emotional reaction to Sheppard's claim about her Wraith body count. Ronon's hatred of the Wraith was palpable.

She asked, "Ronon Dex, you hate the Wraith?"

He spoke plainly, "I do."

"Do you want revenge for what they did to you? To your people?"

"Yes."

"Do you wish to hurt them? Kill them?"

"Yes."

The Guardian took a step forward. "Then serve me."

"Serve you?"

"Yes. I promise that you will have all that you desire and more."

"I'm already killing the Wraith on my own."

"As a runner."

He was silent.

"Ronon Dex, work for me. You want retribution? So do I. You are a warrior and a soldier. You know how to fight them. I need that fighting spirit."

He asked, "And those people back in the cave? They work for you too?"

"No, they are only allies. I need someone to serve me directly. Ronon Dex, I am a warrior and a soldier, like you, and they attacked my home too. They wiped out my race and I am now the last survivor. Serve me, and I will make sure that you will get an opportunity to gain your retribution. I promise it."

She could tell that Ronon was considering her offer.

She asked, "You have a Wraith tracking device implanted inside of you. May I see it?"

He thought a moment, then he turned and removed his vest and shirt. She approached and reached out with her gloved hand as she touched the knife scars along his spine at the shoulder level. "You tried to remove it yourself?"

"Tried with a mirror. Couldn't reach."

"Stand still." She removed the white glove and ran her bare hand along his spine. "I don't recognize this model. The shape is odd. If it was convex I might be able to teleport it out of your back like a tumor, but this model has an irregular concave shape and has tendrils entering your spinal column. Hmm."

"You can't take it out?"

"No, however.."

"Then you're not getting your prisoners back."

"Ronon, wait. What I was going to say is that I am sure that our Doctor Beckett could remove it for you. However it must be done here, not in Atlantis."

"You mean the city of the Ancestors? I thought that was a myth."

"I assure you that Atlantis is quite real."

Sheppard spoke up. "Genie, is it smart telling him about Atlantis?"

"Don't worry, he won't talk." She turned, "Oh, you don't mind if I call you by your first name?"

"I don't care."

"When I'm off duty my friends call me Sara."

"Doesn't feel right. You're an Ancestor."

"Give it time." She looked at his back again, "John is right. We cannot take you to Atlantis with a subspace transmitter embedded in you. We cannot take you to New Athos either. You'll need to stay here while I return to Atlantis to fetch Doctor Beckett. I'm untying your prisoners. I assume you don't need them anymore?" Before Ronon could answer, the ropes that had bound Teyla and Sheppard were invisibly sliced apart. They both stood up and rubbed their sore wrists.

Teyla offered, "I will stay behind with Ronon Dex until you return."

Sheppard was concerned for her safety, "You sure? He looks dangerous.."

Teyla give him a thin-lipped smile. "So am I." Ronon raised an eyebrow. "I will keep Ronon Dex company until you return with Doctor Beckett. I have already called Sapphire and she is coming. John, you may borrow her to bring back Doctor Beckett."

The Guardian said, "John, let's get going. We need to get him out of here before more Wraith hunters show up." The Guardian turned to leave.

Ronon said, "Wait."

She turned back. "Yes?"

"What was that animal you were riding?"

"It is called a horse. His name is Snowmane."

She sensed that Ronon wanted to see it again, so she obliged him.

{ Snowmane, come to me. }

A great white stallion came galloping out of the woods. The majestic animal quickly crossed the field and came to a fast stop in front of the cave, rearing up and whinnying.

{ You are such a showoff. }

The horse snorted.

The Guardian asked, "Do you like it? Oh, here comes Sapphire." She saw the black Arabian mare rounding the hill at a full gallop.

Ronon looked at both horses in admiration. "They are beautiful animals."

"If you work for me, you might get one of your own."

"Really? Okay."

"You'll need to take care of it, train with it.."

"Just like my weapon. It's an extension of me. A horse works the same way, right?"

She saw that Ronon had made an astute observation. "Yes, it does."

The Guardian jumped on Snowmane's back in a single leap, then she waited for Sheppard to climb more slowly up onto Sapphire's saddle. They rode off into the distance at a full gallop.

As they rode away Ronon remembered something, an image. What was it? He recalled a painting that he had seen in a village that he had passed through. An image of..

An image of hope.

He pointed, "Wait a second. Was that.."

Teyla walked up behind him. ".. the White Rider? Yes, it was."

Ronon crossed his arms and made a satisfied grin while watching the white horse and rider gallop away.

"Cool."

* * *

Sheppard was tightly holding the horn of Sapphire's saddle with both hands trying not to fall off. The reins were loosely wrapped around the horn as Sapphire galloped on her own accord alongside her mate. When they approached the gate both horses slowed to a trot by mutual consent. Sheppard took the opportunity to finally relax his grip and ask the Guardian a question.

"Sara, when you told Ronon 'work for me' you mean work for us, right?"

"No, John. I want Ronon Dex to report directly to me."

"He can't be on my team if he's not a member."

"Don't worry. Once he is settled in at Atlantis I will tell him to treat you as his commanding officer."

Sheppard realized what she was doing. "Ah, I see it now. He'll follow my orders.."

"I learned it from you, John. 'Always save a trump card'."

"Yep. So if you and I ever having a falling out - heaven forbid - he will take your side."

"Exactly."

"Got it. Thanks for being honest with me."

"Always. The second reason I need him is because I can't be in two places at once. The third reason is because I might need to do something, shall we say, extra-legal in your eyes, and I can use him to do it while keeping your hands clean with Weir and the SGC."

"All great reasons. I would have done the same thing in your shoes."

"Thanks. I just hope Doctor Beckett is good at doing field surgery."

"I think we're going to find out."

* * *

 _Two days later_

The Guardian's jumper exited the gate on Sateda. She pulled it up sharply in a rapid accelerating climb. Ronon was riding with her in the co-pilot seat. She had promised him that she would help him search his home for survivors.

Devastation was everywhere; the surrounding city was effectively obliterated. Ronon sucked in his breath but otherwise remained silent.

The Guardian said softly, "Nothing. But let's keep searching."

Over the next several hours the Guardian's puddle jumper criss-crossed the main continent of Sateda, but she failed to sense any survivors. She prepared to turn back but Ronon insisted they keep searching. She obliged him and travelled to a smaller land mass on the far side of the ocean. During the time of the attack seven years ago it was uninhabited, but they checked the second continent anyway. There were no survivors there either.

As she prepared to turn back towards the gate he shifted in his seat and was about to ask her to search again, when she gave him a grim look. He read her face. He relented, sagging in his seat.

She finally spoke, "I'm sorry."

He looked down, lost in his own dark thoughts. After they returned he left for his quarters while still under the watchful eyes Sheppard's marine guards.

The Guardian went to the gate room where she found Weir and Sheppard. There she gave her report. "Sorry, no survivors. The Wraith specifically target any civilization that rises to level 3 or higher. Sometimes they will knock a low level 3 civ back down to level 2, but Sateda was already a high level 3. Given their strong resistance they obliterated everything. It's a dead world now."

Sheppard said quietly, "Ronon might be the last of his race, same as you."

She looked away.

Weir approached her from behind. "Sara, I know you want revenge.."

She turned back, her face hard. "Yes, Doctor Weir, I do. I felt his emotions, his loss, his sheer hatred of them."

Weir glanced over at Sheppard, who gave her a small encouraging nod. "Then perhaps now is the time for me to reveal something to you."

Sara could sense Weir's worry. "Reveal what?"

Weir tried to gather her thoughts.

"Sara, do you remember the Hoffans and Doctor Beckett?"

The Guardian did. The Hoffans were a low level 3 civilization that the Wraith had repeatedly knocked down to level 2 only for them to climb back up again about every 200 years or so. The Hoffans were working in secret on a drug that would render themselves unpalatable to the Wraith. When the Guardian learned of it she had warned the Hoffan's leader, Druhin, that it might induce the Wraith to obliterate them completely, but he disregarded her warning as the Hoffans continued to pursue the research anyway thinking that the Wraith would simply move on to other more palatable worlds.

Doctor Beckett had wanted to help them develop the drug, but the Guardian did a rare veto and ordered that no such research be done in her city. He obliged her by spending several months in the Hoffan capital instead, working on the drug alongside their main researcher, Perna. Eventually they were successful in developing the serum, but in testing it they found that it had a 50% mortality rate, plus it had the side effecting of killing any Wraith who fed upon an inoculated subject. Doctor Beckett urged them to stop but they continued anyway so he reluctantly left. Later the Wraith did exactly what the Guardian had feared. The Hoffans were completely wiped out as a civilization.

"What about Doctor Beckett?"

"Well, he has since been working on other biological agents.."

The Guardian interrupted her. "Yes, I know. You've been trying to hide it from me."

Weir was surprised. "You already knew?"

"I did. Beckett claimed he was merely doing genetic research on the origins of the Wraith, but he was in fact secretly trying to formulate a new biological warfare agent. His obvious nervousness around me induced me to check his computer. And before you berate me for that, Doctor Weir, please be advised that I reserve the right to investigate anything in this city that affects its security, be it mental or digital. Beckett was obviously lying to me so I simply checked and confirmed it."

"So you knew all along."

"Doctor Weir, never try to lie to me."

Sheppard shrugged, "Hey, I tried to warn her.."

The Guardian ignored him. "So far Beckett has not made any breakthroughs in his genetic research. If he had, I would have shut him down then. But now that it's out in the open I'm going to insist that you stop it immediately."

"But.."

"No. Lantean law absolutely forbids genetic modifications of sentient life. Why? Because we learned it the hard way. It never works. It always backfires. I'm sorry, Doctor Weir, but I'm going to enforce our laws here. Beckett's research absolutely has to stop."

"Even if it might give you a chance to get back at the Wraith?"

The Guardian stood her ground. "Even then. Do I want revenge on the Wraith? Yes, I do. Very much so. But not like this. Beckett's research has to stop now."

Weir sighed inwardly. Sheppard had indeed warned her to not go around the Guardian like this, but she had felt that it was important enough to take the chance. She and Beckett had tried to hide it and now they were caught red-handed. Biological warfare research was clearly a hot button for the Guardian, and she refused to back down.

Weir was a diplomat who knew when not to press a particularly contentious issue with a close ally. She would talk to Beckett privately, and if he was not near a breakthrough she would shut it down as the Guardian asked.

"Fine. I'll let him know."

* * *

 _From: Sara McKay at atlantis-exp/sgc/usaf/mil  
To: Samantha Carter at sgc/usaf/mil_

 _Dear Colonel Samantha Carter,_

 _Enclosed please find my answers to the written questions that you had submitted during the last gate transmission. I am sorry that you were not able to visit us with Colonel Everett's team or visit on the Daedalus, but General O'Neill's refusal of your requests is very understandable given that should an emergency develop you cannot afford to remain away from Earth for weeks any more than I can afford to remain away from Atlantis for weeks. I do hope that you eventually find a second ZPM so that we can finally meet, as well as to power your Lantean planetary defense station in Antarctica. (Please find attached a proposal that Doctor Weir had asked me to write up for moving the Chair to a new secure location.)_

 _I found your questions to be both interesting and very challenging. I liked your math questions regarding Hilbert's Problems and the Riemann Hypothesis. I was particularly impressed with your grasp of higher dimensionality and the use hypermanifolds for short range physical travel. You are quite correct that our city transporters are simply mechanical elevators that operate through a short 4D tunnel. Unfortunately the equipment that was used to drill those 4D tunnels no longer exists, and I apologize that I do not have the knowledge of how that equipment was constructed other than that they used a material called illudium._

 _I very much appreciated your keen insights into advanced power generation. Your ideas seem much more elegant than Rodney's approach on how to reduce our reliance on ZPMs. I had discussed your ideas with Rodney, but I was rather surprised at how resistant he was to using them. I pressed him and he finally agreed to follow it up. I will let you know if he makes any progress._

 _I am sorry that I had left unanswered your questions regarding gravity control and quantum gravity. I know that you have access to Asgard technology on your spaceships, which includes gravity control, and no doubt you have already asked the Asgard the same questions that you had asked me. The fact that you are still asking them tells me that the Asgard did not answer your questions, and so I will do the same and also respectfully decline to answer them. I am sure that the Asgard have already given you very good and sufficient reasons for keeping it a secret so I will not dwell on it further._

 _If you don't mind, I would like to ask you about the Asgard's teleportation technology, as I had never seen anything like it. Have the Asgard revealed to you its theory of operation? I am guessing they have not, but if they did I would very much like to learn more about it. I am also interested in their hyperdrive technology, which I admit is more advanced than our own. I know of no theory of hyperdrive travel that can cross galaxies like yours can. Again, if you are reluctant or unable to reveal it I completely understand._

 _I very much enjoyed your final three 'bonus' questions. I am still trying to understand human humor, but I already found them to be quite funny. I especially liked your last question, "You married Rodney McKay, are you insane?" I got a good laugh out of that one._

 _I am still struggling with answering Doctor Daniel Jackson's questions. About half of his 450 questions were already answered in the copy of the public database that I had transmitted to your SGC during last week's gate connection (text only). Some of his other questions I found to be rather subjective and not at all easy for me to answer. I found a few of his questions to be very personal and frankly a bit intrusive. In contrast I found your questions to be uniformly interesting and quite enjoyable to answer._

 _Some day I hope that you will find a second ZPM so that we can finally meet. When that happens I expect that I will be invited to visit Earth by your government. I admit I have very mixed feelings about that. Your world is absolutely thrilling and terrifying to me at the same time: its seven billion inhabitants, its endless varieties of species, its varied geography, not to mention your people's art, culture, and cuisine. Your food varieties absolutely fascinate me. The choices! American, Mexican, French, Chinese, Italian, Thai, Indian, Russian... I can't believe the food choices that you have. I am salivating just thinking about them all._

 _So I was wondering, may I ask you some personal questions about Earth? Things that aren't listed in Encyclopedia Britannica or the text-only snapshot I have of Wikipedia?_

 _What is your favorite food?_

 _What is your favorite animal?_

 _What is your favorite pastime when you are not working?_

 _My favorite food is *everything* from Earth. My favorite animal is the magna baelena, an ocean cetacean that corresponds approximately to Earth's blue whale. My favorite pastime (besides Rodney) is cloud watching. I am also now learning to play chess thanks to Rodney (although I suspect that John Sheppard is a better player)._

 _Again, thank you so much for your written questions and for taking the time out of your busy schedule to write with me. I very much look forward to writing to you again._

 _Regards,_  
 _Sara McKay_

* * *

 _From: Sara McKay at atlantis-exp/sgc/usaf/mil  
To: Samantha Carter at sgc/usaf/mil_

 _Dear Sam,_

 _I am glad to hear that Sooty is feeling better. You need to tell your cat who is the boss in your house._

 _I am still struggling to answer some of Doctor Jackson's questions. I decided to skip the personal ones after discussing it with Rodney. I think I will need to consult with Doctor Kurosawa on his questions regarding Lantean history and philosophy. Please let him know that I am still working on it._

 _You like spicy food? I don't know why that surprises me, but it does. I have this vision of you being someone who does not like spicy food (not sure why). I really can't pick a favorite food yet. I love whatever they put in front of me. They brought in some pickled jalapenos during the last consignment from the Daedalus and I ate them right out of the jar (maybe we can have a contest?)._

 _The only food I haven't tried yet is chocolate. For some reason whenever I ask someone to try a bite of chocolate they claim they are all out. I know the last consignment brought in several hundred chocolate bars so it is odd that nobody ever seems to have any for me to try._

 _I caught Rodney snooping on your last e-mail response to me, which completely appalled me. I read him 'the riot act' per the idiom, and threatened him with certain personal and highly creative retributions from me if I ever caught him doing it again. He apologized profusely, and I apologize to you as well for the intrusions on your privacy._

 _I suggest that your future responses to me be encrypted using a method of your choosing that will defeat Rodney McKay's attempts to crack it. I am sure you can come up with a method that can beat him._

 _Thank you for letting me know about how the SGC received my proposal regarding moving the Antarctic defense station. Apparently the fact that I had 'requested' (sic) that the Chair be relocated out of Antarctica under control of the United States (double sic) was put to the IOA. Sam, I had made no such request. I had only made a suggestion it be moved, and solely for security reasons not political ones. I really dislike being used as a political pawn in Earth's internal affairs like this. Please let General O'Neill know that._

 _Some of the girls on the base are planning a belated Christmas concert later this month. They are also planning a dance party that will be held in June to celebrate the first anniversary of Rising Day. Laura Cadman wants me to participate in both events (she says I am a good singer) but I am really nervous about it. The problem is that Lantean melodies are rather different from the musical selections they are choosing for the concert and for the party. (Have you ever heard of a musical group called 'Abba'?) I have never sung an Earth style twelve-note diatonic musical scale before. Lantean music uses an eight-note modal scale, which Doctor Kurosawa says it is similar to Celtic music (whatever that means)._

 _What kind of music do you like to play?_

 _Sam, I can't wait for you to visit. Please pet Sooty for me, and give my regards to Pete._

 _Your friend,_  
 _Sara_

* * *

 _From: Sara McKay at atlantis-exp/sgc/usaf/mil  
To: Samantha Carter at sgc/usaf/mil  
_ _X-Crypto: Steno/SGC-RPT1-53aea506620eb2bfe075a2f99134c_

 _Dear Sam,_

 _Thank you for your idea about using stenography within the SGC telemetry data feed. As instructed I will disregard your more easily decrypted SHA256 response as bait for Rodney._

 _I still can't believe Rodney is trying to eavesdrop on your messages. I am furious about it._

 _I am very sorry to hear about what happened with Pete. I can't believe he did that to you. The members of this expedition have been away from their homes and their loved ones under conditions far worse than what Pete endured and remained faithful, so the fact that he claims that you were 'away too much' is simply no excuse._

 _It is times like this where I really am at a loss for words._

 _I am so sorry._

 _Your friend,_  
 _Sara_

* * *

 _From: Sara McKay at atlantis-exp/sgc/usaf/mil  
To: Samantha Carter at sgc/usaf/mil_  
 _X-Crypto: Steno/SGC-RPT2-61ce21cd4d2c6dfc106aa070682e6_

 _Dear Sam,_

 _Thank you so much for sending me your favorite MP3 tracks of Mozart and Beethoven. They are delightfully amazing compositions. I really like your taste in music._

 _It is too bad that you think that classical music is unlikely to go over well with the other girls as being appropriate for the Rising Party in June. I appreciate your suggestion Re: The Beatles. John Sheppard has several 'mix tapes' on his MP3 player that he has loaned to me that includes their music. He seems to especially like a performer named Johnny Cash. John's taste in music is quite varied and interesting._

 _Thank you for the heads up about the IOA wanting to meet with me. I very much want to avoid a political situation like that. I conferred with Doctor Weir about it, and she suggested that I should insist that any meeting with them has to happen here on Atlantis, not on Earth. I trust her judgement and will do as she suggests._

 _I am glad you are feeling better now. I will definitely share that ice cream with you. Just make sure it's chocolate!_

 _Your dearest friend,_  
 _Sara_

* * *

One night the Guardian and McKay were in their new shared sleeping quarters on an upper level of the North Tower. The Guardian had picked it for the balcony view and also for privacy.

She was busy giving McKay a back massage on the large bed, straddling over him as he lay on his stomach. She was moving and pressing her open hands firmly along his spine and neck, her fingers interlocked.

"Mmm. Kit, that feels soo good."

"I'm applying pressure to your spinal nerve junctions to release physical tension, the same points used in your Chinese acupuncture."

"Really? I always thought that acupuncture was a bunch of voodoo."

"No it's not. The ancient acupuncture charts I saw are actually rather accurate."

"They are? Huh."

She kept kneading his back.

He said, "I saw you jogging with Ronon again this morning."

"That's right. We agreed to make it a regular activity."

"You have?"

"Yes. Sheppard plans to join in tomorrow's jog, although I doubt he'll make it as far as we will."

"Hmm. You've been hanging around Ronon a lot.."

"Yes. I need to train him."

"For what?"

"Lots of things.

"Like what?"

"Advanced horseback riding, special Wraith combat techniques.."

"Sure. Uh-huh."

She stopped the massage. "And what's that supposed to insinuate?"

"Kit, sometimes when you are around him.."

"Yes?"

"Well, I can tell."

"You can? Oh. I see."

"It's a little disconcerting, you know?"

{ Rodney, I have to admit that Ronon is easy on the eyes. But it's just that, nothing more. }

"Yeah and if you feel that way when I'm around then I feel it too. It's weird."

{ Then you know also that it is nothing more than that. It's just an unconscious physical reaction. Nothing for you to get worried about. }

McKay did not appreciate sharing her mild physical feelings of lust for the Satedan. "Bleck."

She was getting annoyed. { Oh you think that's 'bleck' do you? The thoughts I pick up from you sometimes are way worse than that. And it's not just physical either. It's emotional. }

"What are you talking about?"

{ I am talking about.. } She dug in a knuckle hard into Rodney's back. { Samantha Carter. }

"Ouch!"

{ Just applying pressure. }

"Very funny. I already apologized a hundred times for that."

{ I still can't believe it. You read my private e-mails from her. It still angers me just thinking about it. }

"But we're Bonded.."

{ That is still no excuse. Bonded individuals are still that, individuals. We still have a responsibility to not invade each other's personal affairs, especially not like that. You invaded Sam's privacy too. }

"So now she's 'Sam'? Why are you getting so darn chummy with her?"

{ Because I want to have a friend on Earth. I've grown to really like her. Sam and I have a lot in common.. }

"Like me?"

She dug another knuckle into Rodney's spine.

"Ow! Stop that!"

{ Just another pressure point. }

"Just cut it out. Yeah, I know that you and Sam have a lot in common with me, but.."

{ Rodney, no, I am sorry, but I now know that you are definitely not something that Sam and I have in common. True, you have a penchant for smart blonds who are really good at physics, but that probably started because of your sister.. }

"Hey!"

{ Sam is not similar to me at all with regards to her feelings for you. I am sorry but she just doesn't like you. I do. }

"Oh.. She told you that, huh?"

{ No she did not. }

"Then how do you know.."

{ Because she never mentions you or even asks about you. That omission made it painfully obvious even to someone as clueless about human social interaction as myself. Rodney, you need to stop your baseless fantasies about her. She never liked you, and I very much doubt that she ever will. Please, you have me. Isn't that enough? }

"Sorry.."

{ You have no idea who Sam really is as a person. All I've done is write to her, and even a numbskull like me can already figure out that she's a really nice and caring person, and it's bad enough that Pete left her and .. } She stopped suddenly, realizing that she had revealed too much.

Rodney tried to turn over. "Pete broke up with Sam? But the e-mail said.." He shut up.

{ Rodney! You're been reading her e-mails again! } Sara put a knee hard into Rodney's back.

"Ow! Ow! Stop it! All right, I'm sorry!"

Sara knew that he had only found Sam's fake e-mails - the phony ones that were used to keep McKay from searching for the real ones - but it was still a gross violation of trust.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

That night Rodney slept by himself.

* * *

A week later a Christmas concert was held in the mess hall. The room was packed, with people spilling out into the adjacent balconies and hallways. The concert opened with a traditional Lantean duet, sung a capella by the Guardian and Teyla. It was a strange melody with Latin intonations that sounded both deeply ethereal and mysterious.

Laura Cadman followed up with a soulful rendition of "What Child is This"* on the violin, followed by a group chorus singing "Joy to the World" and "Silent Night". The Guardian and Cadman were up next with the Guardian singing accompanied by Cadman's violin in a rendition of "How Great Thou Art"**,

 _Lord my God,_  
 _When I in awesome wonder  
_ _Consider all The works Thy Hand hath made,_  
 _I see the stars,_  
 _I hear the mighty thunder,_  
 _Thy pow'r throughout The universe displayed,_

 _When through the woods And forest glades I wander  
I hear the birds Sing sweetly in the trees,_  
 _When I look down From lofty mountain grandeur  
And hear the brook And feel the gentle breeze,_

 _Then sings my soul,_  
 _My Savior God, to Thee,_  
 _How great Thou art!_  
 _How great Thou art!  
_  
 _Then sings my soul,_  
 _My Savior God, to Thee,_  
 _How great Thou art!_

The performance brought a stirring round of applause, for which Cadman bowed and the Guardian awkwardly did the same. Then another group sang the "Carol of the Bells" using traditional Athosian bells for accompaniment, and after that followed several more performances by other groups including a men's a capella rendition of "The First Noel" led by some members of Lorne's twelve-step group. All were received with more well-deserved applause.

The concert ended with everyone in the audience joining in for a rousing chorus of "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" that filled the hall. It wrapped up with a closing benediction by Doctor Kurosawa that reminded everyone of the losses endured during the past year and hope for the new year. This triggered a spontaneous chorus of "Auld Lang Syne" sung by the entire crowd, which ended with more than a few kisses among various members of the audience.

Elizabeth Weir was sitting at a private table next to Sheppard in the back of the room. Weir was enjoying his company at the concert, and she sang Jingle Bells and Rudolph with him.

In the darkened room nobody else saw when Sheppard quietly reached under the table and held Weir's hand during "Auld Lang Syne". She tightened her own grip on his under the table.

They continued to secretly hold hands until the kissing around them started, when they both let go of their secret hand-holding in mutual private embarrassment.

He wasn't ready to go that far yet, and neither was she, and certainly not in public.

But it did confirm what Sheppard wanted to know.

 _Genie, thank you for telling me._

* * *

The Guardian was busy typing an e-mail message at a data terminal in the gate room when the gate activated. As the chevrons lit up she stood up and waited for Doctor Weir to come out of her office and stand alongside her.

Chuck looked at his monitor. "We are receiving AR-1's IDC."

Weir ordered, "Lower the shield."

 _"This is Sheppard. We made contact with an advanced civilization called the Olesians. They score a high level 3 on Genie's scale. They use a non-radioactive fissionable ore for power generation that has got McKay really excited. The magistrate says they are very interested in trading opportunities with us."_

The Guardian's ears perked up. "John, you believe they might be willing share some of this mineral ore with us?"

 _"They seem open to it. They don't get many trading opportunities coming through the gate. There is, however, the minor moral hiccup of their form of capital punishment.."_

Sheppard proceeded to explain how the Olesians imprisoned their worst criminals on an island with the gate where the Wraith feed on the prisoners.

 _"The magistrate did, however, say that only the most violent criminals get sent there, and that it has been this way for over a hundred years."_

The Guardian conjectured, "It might explain why the Wraith haven't wiped them out yet. Still, I'm surprised they would permit a human civilization to reach such a high level of technology. Do they have air travel too?"

 _"Yeah. They escorted our jumper from the island. It was a fancy hoverjet, kind of like an F-35."_

"John, that is odd. The Olesians have industrialization, electricity, advanced power generation, and airflight. No human civilization has ever been allowed to possess all of those technologies while under the control of the Wraith. Sometimes they are permitted to possess one or two of them, but never all four at the same time.

 _"Well, this one has all four."_

Weir said, "Hey, I'll take whatever we can get. It sounds like it might be worthwhile for me to make a personal visit."

 _"Probably a good idea. I don't think you'll need Genie to do her 'thing' on this one."_ It was John-speak for their needing the Guardian to come along to play her fake 'Bad Cop' role during difficult negotiations.

The Guardian was glad she wasn't needed on this trip, as she still had a lot of writing to do to answer Daniel Jackson's long list of questions.

After the transmission ended, the Guardian climbed downstairs to visit with Doctor Kurosawa again.

* * *

The Guardian was sitting in Doctor Kurosawa's tiny office on sublevel 5.

Doctor Kurosawa set down her coffee thermos as she considered Daniel Jackson's next question. She tapped some keys on her Dell laptop. Doctor Jackson had asked the Guardian whether there was any information regarding the Ancients interbreeding with humans on Earth in the distant past. The Guardian needed to consult with Doctor Kurosawa for help in answering Doctor Jackson's question due to the simple fact that when the Lanteans had fled Atlantis they never contacted her again.

Kurosawa closed the laptop and sat back in her chair, clasping her hands together. "Well, the Book of Genesis in the Bible mentions powerful beings who 'took wives for themselves of all that they chose.. bearing children to them, heros that were of old, warriors of renown.' *** The Hebrew word is _Nephilim_ , but it is unclear if that word refers to the beings themselves or to their offspring. The scholars who wrote the Latin Vulgate had translated Nephilim as 'giants', which the King James version copied more-or-less verbatim, but that etymology is actually rather dubious. A more accurate translation of the Hebrew word would be 'fallen ones,' with a connotation of their having a chaotic or dangerous nature. Most Christian translations and commentaries usually refer to them as fallen angels, while Jewish commentaries more commonly refer to them as fallen nobles, but whoever these beings were, they were definitely both dangerous and powerful. It is distinctly possible that they might have been your people."

The Guardian listened carefully. "Interesting. So the Biblical text indicates that there was intermarriage between human women and these powerful beings, whoever they were. What happened to these beings after that?"

"There is no mention of the Nephilim after the Flood. Some speculate that they did not survive the Flood, or it is possible that they died out for other reasons, or that they left the Earth on their own accord, or that they were cast out by God. Unfortunately no one really knows."

"I see. Are there any other mentions of their offspring? Did their descendants survive?"

"That's not clear either. In Genesis 10 there is a mention of a descendant of Noah named Nimrod who was 'a mighty warrior on the earth, a mighty hunter before the Lord', which might be a reference back to the 'warriors of renown' in Genesis 6, but the connection is not certain. Otherwise, no, not really." Kurosawa sighed, "I am sorry if I cannot be of more help."

The Guardian said, "Oh, it's quite all right and thank you for your assistance. I can see why Daniel Jackson asked me the question."

"You have no idea what happened?"

"No, I know nothing of what happened to my people after they left Atlantis."

Kurosawa asked, "Your people never contacted you ever again?"

"No. They never did."

She took pity on the Guardian. "So you waited. That must have been hard for you."

"It was."

"How long did you wait?"

The Guardian was silent.

"Long enough."

* * *

The Guardian piloted her personal jumper down from the hanger level and approached the closed floor hatch that led to the gate room below. Doctor Weir was sitting in the co-pilot seat, and behind the pair were seated Evan Lorne and three of his men. They were wearing black BDUs and armed with P90s.

AR-1 was now more than two hours overdue.

Doctor Weir had insisted on coming along with Lorne's rescue team, so the Guardian had volunteered to fly the mission herself as Weir's security escort. Technically the Guardian had no official duty in connection with the Expedition's explorations off-world, but Weir was only too happy to accept the offer. Left unspoken was the Guardian's concern for Rodney.

The Guardian opened the floor hatch and dialed the gate address for Olesia. Below them the gate wooshed open with its rippling event horizon. The jumper slowly dropped down through the hatch into the gate room and positioned itself for insertion.

"I will be doing a high speed combat exit, so everyone hold on tight." They did.

The Guardian revved the engines hard.

* * *

One of Torrell's men ran into the camp. "Something just came in through the gate."

Torrell stood up. "Wraith?"

The man said, "No. It was another ship, the same kind as the one we shot down."

Torrell was annoyed. "And you just let it go?"

"It zoomed out of the gate like a rocket, then it climbed up and out of range before we had a chance to fire on it."

Torrell was worried. "Where is it now?"

"It circled high above us twice, then it headed out to open sea."

"Not toward the mainland?"

"No, it went out into the open ocean. Don't worry, it's long gone."

Torrell grabbed one of the pilfered P90s. "You idiot! They circled the island and landed! Hurry up and get the hostages!"

Suddenly he fell over unconscious along with the other men in the campsite.

A set of footprints appeared in the dirt next to him. The footprints stopped in front of the stolen P90, which was lifted up from Torrell by unseen hands. The footprints then headed towards a decrepit shack.

Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronon were tied up inside the shack with their arms, necks, and waists all bound tightly behind them using strong leather straps that were wrapped around a large horizontal wooden post that spanned the interior of the shack.

The two convicts that were guarding the hostages promptly fell unconscious as their carotid arteries were pinched shut.

Sheppard was now smiling. "Looks like the cavalry has arrived."

The Guardian materialized wearing her thermo-optic hood and cloak. She was annoyed.

"John, this rabble managed to capture all three of you? I am very disappointed."

Sheppard was defensive, "Hey, these convicts are tough hombres."

"And you couldn't even secretly loosen some ropes?"

Teyla explained, "These bindings are very secure."

John added, "Leave it to convicts to know the best way to tie people up."

The Guardian gave Ronon a disappointed look. "Some runner you are."

Ronon said simply, "Hey, I was shot in the leg."

Sheppard asked, "How is McKay?"

"Rodney is safe and is waiting inside Tarai with AR-2 and Weir. The ship is cloaked outside."

The Guardian walked behind the trio and inspected the leather straps. She had to admit to herself that they were indeed well secured. She kneeled down and started doing wind cuts to slice the straps apart. As she did so she spoke behind Sheppard, "Rodney had told me that your jumper isn't salvageable."

Sheppard rubbed his freed wrists. "I'm sorry it got trashed. You can put it on my tab."

The Guardian stood up again. "John, I cannot believe you broke another jumper. That's three now. You keep breaking them and I won't let you play with my toys anymore."

Sheppard and the others stood. "I'm sorry, mom. You said Weir came along?"

"Yes. She wants us to go the mainland to see if the trade negotiations can still be salvaged."

"Uh, yeah, about that..."

She interrupted him, "Let's go before the convicts wake up. You can tell me on the way."

* * *

Weir and the Guardian walked with Lorne and his men towards the Magistrate's headquarters. A young woman climbed down the steps and approached them. She made a gesture of greeting. "I am Marin. Welcome to Olesia."

Weir replied cordially, "Hello. I am Doctor Elizabeth Weir, and this is the Guardian and my security team. Thank you for allowing us to visit to your world."

"You are most welcome. Please follow me." The woman turned and led the group up the steps.

The Guardian glanced over to Weir, { She is hiding strong agitation. }

{ I noticed. She's nervous. Sara, does she think we are in danger? }

{ I don't think so. She feels danger, but she feels it for herself. }

The group entered a reception hall and waited.

Weir quietly took Marin aside. "Marin, Is something wrong?"

Marin's eyes widened in fear. "What do you mean?"

The Guardian said, "Marin, we know."

"Y-you do?"

Weir said, "Yes. We want to help."

Marin spoke quickly, "People are being arrested for unspecified violations. It's been going on for some time, but never as bad as this. They are being rounded up everywhere."

The doors to the reception hall opened and the Magistrate marched in with several armed soldiers. The Guardian moved in front of Weir, who was standing next to Marin. Lorne and his men had flanking positions on both sides of Weir.

The Magistrate was seething. "Lies! Marin, you are spreading fear not only among our people but now our guests too? I cannot allow it."

Marin pleaded, "Why are so many people being arrested?"

"Your job is not to question the actions of this government." He looked at his soldiers. "Arrest her."

Weir asked, "May I ask, what is her crime?"

The Magistrate addressed Weir, "For your information, Marin has been involved in a group seeking to undermine the Olesian government. She's become very adept at spinning lies to suit her organization's treasonable agenda."

Marin pleaded, "No! Help me! Please!"

The Guardian asked her, "Do you wish asylum?"

"Yes!"

"Granted."

The Magistrate glared at the woman in white, "What do you think you are doing?"

"I have granted her asylum."

"Madam, you are in no position to grant anything of the kind."

The Guardian ignored him. She addressed the soldiers. "The offer extends to everyone on Olesia."

The Magistrate sputtered, "What?"

"Sir, I suggest you tell your people to hurry to the gate."

"Are you mad?"

Weir spoke up. "Magistrate, the reason your Wraith associate is demanding so many new prisoners is because they are doing mass cullings, and the rate will soon be unsustainable. It makes your little arrangement no longer feasible. Your gate is now open to a world that is willing to accept the Olesians as refugees. I suggest you take advantage of it."

"But.. the prisoners?"

"Your prisoners have already gated off-world to an undisclosed location."

The Guardian listened to her headset. "Three Wraith cruisers are approaching the planet."

Weir said, "Magistrate, you have run out of options."

The Guardian offered, "Sir, if you like, I can stop them for you."

"You.. you can do that?"

The Guardian smiled. "Yes. Your gate is now open to a world that is willing to accept your people as refugees. You are fortunate. The Wraith commander who has been running your little scheme has been doing it in secret with no hive queen backing him, and without the knowledge nor the consent of the other Wraith. If I take out all three of his cruisers it might be weeks or even months before a random passing hive takes notice of the lack of culling activity and investigates, then exterminates your world for the crime of being a high level 3 civilization. It will give you time to evacuate."

The Magistrate stared at both women in disbelief.

Weir smiled. "Oh, excuse me, please allow me to make an introduction. Magistrate, meet the White Rider. Perhaps you have heard of the name?"

The soldiers surrounding the Magistrate lowered their guns and murmured to each other, "It's the White Rider.. It's really her.. She's real.."

Weir said, "Magistrate, time is short."

He was stunned, unsure of what to do.

"Sir, I suggest you make a decision."

Surely the White Rider was a myth? And yet there she stood..

Weir decided to move things along. "Sir, if you are not willing to take the lead in the evacuation, perhaps we could suggest to your soldiers that they find someone else to do the job for you?"

That got his attention. "I.. I will take charge of this immediately. The arrests will end at once." He thought quickly. "I will need to make an address. We have ocean ships that can reach the island.."

"It appears that you have work to do."

"Yes.. yes.." He turned and left, with his soldiers following with some confusion.

The Guardian asked Marin, "Do you still want asylum?"

She shook her head. "I need to stay and help the magistrate with the evacuation."

The Guardian tapped her mic. "Sheppard, are the jumpers in position yet?"

 _"Jumpers 3 to 8 are loaded and at the embarkation point, just waiting for you."_

"Send jumper 9 to pick up Weir and AR-2 at this location. I'm heading out in Tarai to join up. We intercept immediately."

 _"We need to coordinate the drone launch timings."_

"Send the trajectory plots to Tarai. I'm leaving now."

* * *

 _The next day_

Weir was sitting in her office. "I can't believe we actually did it."

Sheppard was leaning back in his chair. "I think I'm gonna start painting stencils of my kills on the side of my jumper. Let's see, one hive ship, one cruiser, 24 darts.."

The Guardian made a smile. "John, this isn't a competition."

"You're just saying that because I'm ahead of you now."

The Guardian sat up. "Excuse me? The Chair counts too. And that means I have now have two hive ship kills and seven cruiser kills to your one and one."

"You can't paint your Chair kills on Tarai."

"Why not?"

"They don't count. That's just ground AA."

"They do too count."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Weir raised her hands and said, "Children, behave."

* * *

 **A/N:**

* See Lindsey Stirling's virtuoso violin performance on YouTube at What Child is This - Lindsey Stirling.

** From Ps 8.

*** Ge 6:1-4


	14. Chapter 14: An Unfortunate Incident

**Chapter 14: An Unfortunate Incident**

The Guardian's jumper exited the gate that was in orbit around the world of Doranda. Rodney was sitting the co-pilot seat, having evicted Sheppard to the back seat due to McKay's seniority as the husband of the pilot.

They were visiting Doranda because of Doctor Kurosawa's newly formed archaeological team, AR-12, had reported a remarkable find during their first off-world archaeological mission. The Guardian had originally suggested to Kurosawa that Doranda would be an ideal location for their first dig because it was a place where her people had been secretly working on a military research project.

The Guardian had suggested the location because, although the facility would have been completely obliterated per standard Wraith wartime tactics, the debris left behind in the aftermath might shed some light on what kind of research was actually going on there. Not even the Guardian's father knew what they were doing. All she knew for certain was that the Lanteans on Doranda were researching some kind of advanced technology to try to turn the tide of the war.

The Guardian brought up the sensor HUD. The glowing translucent display overlapped most of the forward window. She was looking at the display intently.

McKay glanced at it, then he turned and asked her, "What you are looking for?"

She kept scanning the HUD. "I'm checking the surrounding space for targets."

Sheppard was sitting behind her. "Find anything?"

"No, nothing in orbit. Hmm. There's a lot of stuff floating at the L2 point."

"Any idea what it could be?"

"At this distance it is hard to say. I'm switching to the spectrograph." The HUD changed to show bands of colored light at L2.

McKay was surprised. "Wait, this ship is equipped with a spectrometer?"

The Guardian was inspecting the colored bands intently. "Of course it has one. Standard equipment."

McKay grinned, "Neat. Man, I'm still learning stuff from you.."

The Guardian's eyes remained focused on the HUD as she smiled, "Rodney, learning is a lifelong process. Just remember that it never ends."

She was carefully inspecting the faint L2 spectrums. "Hmm, there's something at L2 all right. Lots of calcium, carbon.."

Sheppard looked at the HUD over her shoulder. "Calcium? That's Wraith debris."

"Yes. There's enough mass there for the remains of at least a half dozen hive ships."

Sheppard was impressed. "Wow. Any naquadah spectra?"

"No. I can find no Lantean debris at all. It's 100% Wraith wreckage."

Ronon said, "Looks like the Wraith got their butts kicked."

"Indeed." She turned off the HUD. "I simply have to see this discovery. I can't wait any longer. Prepare for emergency descent." She revved the engines up to full power.

"Aw don't," McKay cinched his seatbelt, "I'll throw up again."

She said reassuringly, "Don't worry, I packed a couple barf bags for you this time. They're in a pouch behind your seat."

Ronon pulled out a bag and handed it forward to McKay, who grabbed it and opened it without speaking. Ronon then sat back to enjoy the wild ride. Teyla gripped her seat without saying anything.

The jumper zoomed downward.

* * *

The Guardian was circling the site. "I'm not sensing any life signs down there."

McKay was leaning forward in his seat as he boggled at the huge energy weapon, "That is one nasty looking gun."

Sheppard observed, "It looks fully intact too." As the jumper banked sideways he visually scanned the rest of the city. "I don't see any battle damage anywhere."

The Guardian mused, "Yes, that is odd. The Wraith apparently never came back."

"That's not their SOP. Genie, don't the Wraith always make it a point to completely destroy Lantean defense installations?"

"Yes. We have a mystery." She quickly landed the jumper at the main entrance.

The rear hatch opened and the Guardian disembarked first. She was dressed for battle with her cloak and hood drawn tightly around her. She looked around cautiously and sniffed the air.

She made a face. "The air smells metallic. Dead."

Teyla exited and said, "I sense no Wraith here."

The Guardian agreed, "I sense no life signs of any kind."

Sheppard kept his P90 at his ready nevertheless. "Let's go inside."

The Guardian started walking toward the entrance, "I'll take point. Beware of traps."

McKay was looking at his tablet. "I'm getting zero energy readings. It should be safe."

The Guardian said quietly, "No, Rodney. Stay alert."

"Why? Lantean traps are always energy based, right? There's no power left so it's fine. What's there to be worried about?"

"Rodney, something scared the Wraith away from this place..."

"And?"

".. and that scares me."

McKay was instantly nervous, "You're scared? R-Really?"

"Rodney, the fear of the unknown is a healthy survival trait; just stay behind me."

She slowly walked to the entrance vestibule and crossed into a dark passage. She removed her right glove and a bio-light appeared in her open palm. It illuminated the passage in front of them.

Sheppard and Teyla cautiously followed behind the Guardian, with Ronon watching the rear. McKay decided to stay near Ronon.

The Guardian said, "Nothing so far." Then she peered ahead. "Wait, I can see a body."

She walked forward and approached a mummified corpse that was laying in the middle of the hallway, a brown and dessicated dry husk.

Teyla knelt down to examine it. "Could it be a Wraith feeding?"

Ronon knelt next to Teyla and checked. "Hard to tell. Might be age."

The Guardian agreed with Teyla, "A Wraith feeding can consume all life in the body right down to the microbes in the gut, leaving nothing alive to decay the body afterward."

Sheppard observed, "Still, it seems well preserved to me. You would think that bugs, rats, looters, something, would have disturbed the body by now."

"John, that is not so strange as it looks. After a Wraith feeding it is not unusual for nothing organically consumable to be left behind for microorganisms or scavenging creatures to feed on. Granted, this corpse has been undisturbed for millennia, but many humans consider a Wraith-fed corpse to be cursed. There are strong taboos about disturbing one."

Ronon reminded them, "Don't forget about the traps. They could have been active for years. The looters might have just given up."

Sheppard asked, "Did you see any traps, big guy? I didn't."

"No, but an openly visible defense station like this must have had some kind of protection."

The Guardian agreed, "Definitely."

McKay was anxious, "Let's just find the control center. The logs should be intact. They should explain what happened."

The Guardian walked on ahead, moving more quickly now, with AR-1 following close behind. The group passed a few more bodies on their way to the control center.

The Guardian entered the control center and stopped just inside. She carefully scanned the whole room using her infrared vision. "All clear. No bodies." AR-1 entered the room.

The Guardian walked up to a large control console. She blew the dust off the panel. "This is a very advanced design. It is even more advanced than the control panels found in Atlantis."

McKay moved in closer to get a better look at it. Their shoulders were touching. "Wow, this was the Lanteans' latest stuff all right."

Sheppard asked, "Can you two power it up?"

McKay shook his head. "No way, the batteries are totally shot."

The Guardian stood back and scanned the rest of the room with her IR vision. "Hmm, I don't see a ZPM monitoring station anywhere."

McKay looked up, "That's weird. You sure?"

"Quite sure."

"If this place has no ZPM receptacle how did they power that sucker?"

"Good question."

McKay mused, "It should be easy enough to hook up these panels to one of our spare naquadah generators*. We can use it to power the panels and extract the logs."

Sheppard cautioned, "McKay, just make sure you don't accidentally turn any traps back on."

"Oh, right, good point. Sheppard, fly back to Atlantis to get the extra generator, will you? Sara and I have a lot of work to do here."

"Who, me?"

The Guardian sighed, "It's my jumper. I'll go fetch it."

McKay said, "You sure?"

"Tarai doesn't like strangers flying him."

"Well, okay. Bring back my second tablet, plenty of recording equipment, and a half dozen CDAs. And lots of sandwiches."

The Guardian asked, "And people?"

"Oh yeah, I suppose we need some of those too."

She said sarcastically, "Well?"

"Yeah, yeah. Bring Zelenka, Grodin, and that energy systems expert whose name I forget."

"You mean Doctor Collins."

"Yeah, him too."

Sheppard offered, "Genie, really, I can go fetch McKay's stuff. I promise I'll be nice to Tarai."

"No, I can fly Tarai faster than you. I'll see if Tarai and I can set a new record for a planetary ascent and de-orbit."

"Yipes. You better bring extra barf bags for your poor passengers."

She grinned at Sheppard, "Thanks for the reminder; Tarai will appreciate it." She kissed Rodney's cheek. "Don't have too much fun without me."

"Just hurry." She left.

A minute later McKay was leaning against the console. He was already getting bored. "Phooey, there's not much I can do until she comes back with that generator."

Sheppard gave McKay a sad look, "Then why didn't you go get it with her?"

He glanced up. "Huh? Whatever for?"

"She might go slower."

"Hey, I need that stuff now."

Sheppard sighed at McKay's cluelessness. "Nevermind."

He said to Teyla and Ronon, "C'mon, folks, let's go secure the rest of the facility."

Ronon protested, "Secure what? Everybody's dead."

"Look, we still need to check out the place, so c'mon." Sheppard pulled up his P90 and the three of them headed for the exit.

* * *

McKay, Zelenka, and the Guardian were huddled at the control console within the facility. A naquadah generator was humming nearby, and the room was now brightly lit with glowing display panels in several places.

The trio were studying the power distribution diagram. The Guardian was awed.

"Rodney, this is incredible."

Sheppard casually walked up behind the trio to see what they were doing. McKay was flicking the diagram around. "Here's the subspace collector. It feeds the virtual particles into this little doo-hickey."

The Guardian asked, "Doo-hickey?"

"I haven't given it a name yet."

Sheppard spoke up, "Flux capacitor."

McKay turned, "Very funny." He turned back and flicked the diagram around some more with his finger. "The doo-hickey sits between the collector and the emitter. It looks like the emitter converts whatever comes out of the doo-hickey into a coherent energy stream, which in turn feeds into this big conduit right into the main gun. It's almost too simple."

Zelenka was frowning. "It is too simple. For example, where is the energy buffer to smooth out the power output?"

The Guardian shrugged, "It doesn't have one."

"But how can it not? That collector is totally mysterious. It pulls in energy from heaven-knows-where, and it is totally unpredictable how much power might come rushing out of it."

"I see your concern. It feeds directly into the weapon system without a failsafe regulator, like the standard Lantean energy buffer that we use to provide a constant and smooth level of power to the city's shield."

"Yes, exactly."

McKay said, "I hate to admit it, but Zelenka is right. The lack of a power buffer makes the weapon unpredictable. There's no way to throttle it down."

Sheppard said, "Cool."

McKay glanced back at him. "See that? The way his eyes just light up at the mention of a weapon? It's like Sara at the mention of chocolate."

She elbowed him. "Ow!"

Zelenka persisted, "Rodney, my worry is that there is no buffer to smooth out the power fluctuations into the gun. What if it might overload and damage the weapon?"

"There is a strong containment field around the doo-hickey.."

"True, but that is earlier in the flow diagram. On the output side there is still nothing to modulate the weapon's firepower."

Sheppard made a shrug, "It doesn't need one."

They all turned to face him. McKay said snootily, "Oh really now? And what, pray tell, would a hotshot pilot without a science degree know about high energy particle physics, hmm?"

John said placidly, "It means that the weapon can fire multiple energy bursts without having to wait for a buffer to store up more energy for the next firing sequence, thus maximizing its destructive effectiveness."

McKay's eyes blinked. "Uh, yes. That was the point I was going to make.."

The Guardian was impressed, "Very good, John. And the fact that it is only firing up into outer space means there is no need to worry about any collateral damage."

"Like I said, cool."

* * *

McKay and the Guardian were back in Atlantis sitting sullenly in the conference room with Weir, Sheppard, Colonel Caldwell, Zelenka, and Beckett. They were trying to explain their failed attempt to power up the weapon on Doranda.

Doctor Beckett was wrapping up his report on the injuries to Doctor Collins. "He is lucky to be alive. He suffered exposure to a type of hard radiation that I've never seen before. According to the visual log he was exposed for only a second, but it still caused significant second-degree burns to his exposed skin on his face and hands."

Weir said to the Guardian, "Sara, thank you for saving his life."

It was because the Guardian had teleported into the access tube to grab him when she sensed the containment field starting to fail.

The Guardian wasn't listening to Weir. Instead she was looking down at the table muttering, "I don't get it. It doesn't make sense.." She looked up. "Why did the field jump out like that? There was no reason for it."

Zelenka replied, "We are still analyzing the data from the test. All we know for certain was there was a huge power surge that made the containment field expand asymmetrically."

The Guardian protested, "But it shouldn't have done that!"

"Well, it did."

McKay sighed, "Sara is right. That should have been theoretically impossible."

Weir chided him, "Well, it looks to me like you need to do some more simulations to figure this out before you try again."

McKay shook his head. "Won't help."

Weir asked, "Why not?"

The Guardian said morosely, "Our theory is off."

McKay explained, "We can run simulations all day and it will never reproduce something like that. We need more experimental data so we can understand what's happening and adjust our simulation model."

Sheppard objected, "You guys want to go back to Doranda and try it again? Look, that thing almost killed a man today."

McKay faced him. "I know that. I am responsible for that as much as anyone, but we also have a responsibility to understand what happened and learn from it."

The Guardian chimed in, "John, an unlimited power source would solve everything. We could power the shield to defend against any Wraith attack, we could fly the city and hide it on another planet, we could create a weapon like the one on Doranda and swat down a _duodecim_ like a fly. We have to pursue this."

McKay explained, "We know that Project Arcturus was attempting to draw energy directly from our own universe through subspace. It's like creating a ZPM the size of the universe. It's mind boggling what they were attempting to do."

Caldwell asked the Guardian, "Wouldn't the Ancients have tried that first, before resorting to ZPMs?"

The Guardian conceded, "It carries its own unknown risks. This was the kind of audacious experimentation that my people did near the end of the war to try to survive."

Weir said, "Like the experiment that created you."

"Yes, Doctor Weir, which was done in violation of our basic principles."

Sheppard said, "And it didn't work. Forced ascension didn't work. Neither did Project Arcturus."

McKay pleaded, "But they were so close.."

"How close, McKay?"

"This close." McKay made a tiny gap between this finger and thumb. "The problem is that they simply ran out of time. We don't have that issue."

Sheppard brought the argument home, "Exactly. There is no rush this time. You obtained plenty of telemetry data, right? Plus you downloaded the log data that you extracted from the Ancients' earlier tests. I suggest you take a couple days to sit down and look at the data you already got."

Weir agreed, "Rodney, a couple days won't hurt."

"All right, fine, two days. But I predict we won't make any progress until we try it again."

"Just let me know what you find. Good luck."

McKay stood up. "Sara, Zelenka, let's go." They left together.

Caldwell quietly waited until they left, then he said to Weir and Sheppard, "I understand your safety concerns, but the DOD is going to want this."

"They will?"

"Yes."

Weir asked the colonel, "And what if I decide to put a stop to these experiments if they become too dangerous?"

"You won't. We both know what will happen if you try."

"Colonel, is that a threat? Are you planning to go over my head on this?"

"No, Ma'am. I am simply advising you."

"I see. Thank you Colonel."

Caldwell realized he was being dismissed, "Doctor." He left.

Sheppard leaned back in his chair. "Well, he was subtle as a brick."

Weir sighed, "He's right. My hands are tied. But not by him or the DOD."

"I know. The problem is Sara."

"Yes."

Sheppard pondered the situation. "She really wants this badly. I bet that she'll go back to Doranda and do it by herself if we quit on her."

"Very likely."

"And she has the tech skills to pull it off too. McKay will also stick with her, I bet."

Weir said gloomily, "Yes, and he might even resign over it. He has a duty to us, but he also has made vows to her."

"She is so obsessed with stopping the Wraith."

"John, can you really blame her? The city is still unflyable and vulnerable. She has a duty to protect it."

"Well, let's just hope that they succeed then, without getting all of us killed."

* * *

McKay, the Guardian, and Zelenka were in the main lab of Atlantis. They were reviewing the telemetry data that they had brought back from Doranda.

McKay was shaking his head as he stood at the large imaging table. "The containment field bowed outward. Why did it do that?"

The Guardian looked at the image and mused, "I'm wondering if the flux capacitor might have.." McKay scowled at her. "I mean, the doo-hickey, might have been reacting to the containment, trying to find a way out?"

"A way out? What do you mean?"

"A weak point. Maybe particles were trying to find a way to escape?"

"Sara, you make it sound like they were alive and searching for an exit.."

"We don't know how it works, Rodney. Based on our theories the Casimir-Polder force shouldn't allow a virtual particle pair to just fly apart like that. The particles are being forcibly separated in an unnatural manner. Maybe it's just reacting, with each particle trying to blindly reconnect with its counterpart to resolve the unnatural separation from it."

Zelenka thought about it. "You mean how like lightning during a thunderstorm strongly searches for a way to connect with the ground?"

"Yes, that is a good analogy. A lightning strike is not instantaneous. It starts slowly over several seconds with an initial filament that searches the air, moving this way and that, trying to find that elusive connection to the ground to relieve the huge electrostatic buildup, seeking out a way to make the connection to relieve the pressure. Often it is not the tallest object but rather the first one it happened to discover first. That's why lightning sometimes strikes people even when a taller object is nearby."

McKay frowned, "If you're right, that's not good for a stable containment environment. It means the fluctuations won't be predictable."

Zelenka agreed, "That is a major problem. Without some sort of predictability it won't be possible to modulate the containment field using an automatic algorithm to counteract the fluctuations."

McKay wondered, "Maybe there's a way to spot it before it happens? I want to play back Collin's accident again."

He opened up three windows on the imaging table. One window showed the main collector/emitter chamber, another showed the access tube with Collins inside, and the third showed McKay, the Guardian, and Zelenka at the main control panel.

McKay played the video slowly three times. Each time was the same: The Guardian looked up sharply, then there was a glow inside the main chamber, and a split second later the containment field expanded into the access tube and surrounded Collins. A split second after that there was a bright light and the Guardian appeared behind Collins. She grappled him, and they disappeared again less than a half second later.

McKay noticed something. "Hey." He stopped the video from repeating. He rewound it and started it again more slowly, then he froze the image just as the Guardian looked up. He pointed at the image. "Sara, look at yourself. You're already reacting at that point."

She inspected the image of herself and agreed. "Yes, that is when I first sensed it."

McKay pointed at a graph, "Here is the energy level at that moment. See that? It hasn't changed yet. It doesn't start shooting up until 0.5 seconds later, here." He advanced then stopped the video again. "See? The readout now shows the huge energy spike starting." He rewound the video again where she started to turn her head. The graph reverted to a flat line.

He turned to face the Guardian. "Sara, how the heck did you do that?"

She peered down in amazement and touched her own image with a gloved hand. "I don't know."

Zelenka said, "You somehow knew that the spike was going to happen at least half a second before it actually started."

"Maybe I sensed the power surge happening before it was visible?"

McKay crossed his arms. "No. The telemetry doesn't show a thing yet. The power level was still flat at that point."

"Maybe the sensors lagged behind?"

"No, they react in nanoseconds. You have a quick reaction time, Sara, but it's not measured in billionths of a second. And you were reacting at least 500 *million* nanoseconds ahead of that sensor. So how did you sense it first?"

"I.. I don't know.."

"Think carefully. What exactly was going through your mind that made you do the teleport?"

"Well, I just saw a vision pop in my head of Collins being burned to death, and I reacted. It was mainly instinct I think. I admit that a semi-blind teleport can be dangerous, but there really wasn't any other option."

Zelenka and McKay looked at each other.

The Czech scientist marvelled, "Do you think she has it?"

McKay nodded, "Yeah. No other way to explain it."

Sara pushed up her elbows from the imaging table. "What are you two talking about?"

"You saw the future. I think you might have precognition powers."

"Rodney, that is absurd. Precognition is the one pre-Ascendant ability that I definitely know that I do not have. I have never been able to predict the future."

"But you just said that a vision popped into your head that showed Collins burning to death."

"So?"

"Sara, Collins did not burn to death. It didn't happen. What you saw in your head never happened."

Zelenka agreed, "She anticipated it. She prevented a future event before it happened."

Sara stood back and shook her head. "No, no, no. Precognition does not work that way. The event always happens. When a seer has a vision and sees a future event, it always takes place. A vision seen by a pre-Ascendant being can never be avoided nor prevented from happening. At best it can only be misinterpreted or misunderstood, but it will definitely happen."

McKay was thinking. "No, I think your ability works differently. It's not a long term vision. It only operates on a time scale measured in a second or less. It shows a potential future, not a definite one. Your vision lets you take action to avoid it."

"Rodney, I can anticipate another person's actions simply by reading their mind. I merely react just before they actually decide to the take action, that's all."

Zelenka responded, "But this was a physical process, not a mind."

McKay approached his wife, "Sara, think hard. Was there ever a time in your life when you avoided injury in a potentially serious accident because you anticipated it? When nobody else was present?"

She tried to think back through her long life. "Uhm, well, I remember an event where I was alone working in the main hanger repairing one of Tarai's engine pods. Suddenly there was a big unexpected electrical discharge that shot out from the open pod right at me. I dived out of the way just before the arc struck the wall behind me. It would have killed me if I hadn't dodged it. At the time I had assumed that Tarai had detected it and warned me mentally, so I thanked him for saving my life, but he insisted that it wasn't him."

"So what did you think it was?"

"I had just assumed that maybe one of the ascended _Vigilante_ had warned me, possibly in violation of their rules about non-interference? I really wasn't sure."

"Then what did you do?"

"I looked up and said 'Thank you' aloud, and that was it."

"Did it ever happen again?"

"Yes, it happened some other times. One time I even yelled, 'Thank you father!', thinking that maybe my father was watching me and looking out for me."

"Was it always a vision?"

"Yes. I would always have a quick vision of something bad that was going happen in the next second if I didn't react fast."

McKay grinned, "Just like a Jedi knight with a light saber."

The Guardian was confused. "A Jedi what?"

McKay tried to explain. "Well, there's a fan theory about how a Jedi knight in _Star Wars_ can block an incoming laser blast with his light saber. You see, the theory is that the Jedi have the ability to see into the future to anticipate and block the laser shot. It works the same way in a light saber duel, where the winner is whichever combatant can see the furthest ahead to counter the opponent's predicted moves and counter-moves to win the battle."

"Rodney, isn't Star Wars just a children's fantasy story?"

"I know.. forget it. The point is, I think that you have that kind of ability, the ability to see into the future by about a second or so. It's why you always win a fight."

The Guardian tried to grasp the implication of McKay's theory. "Rodney, you mean that whenever I fight, say, a Wraith Champion in hand-to-hand combat who is both larger and stronger than me - and thus who ought to win the battle - that I am using both mental scanning and short-term precognitive ability to always win the fight?"

"Yeah."

"So you're saying I double-cheat."

"Yeah, you totally cheat every way you can."

She crossed her arms with satisfaction. "Good. I like that."

McKay chuckled, "Sara, just when I think I know all your tricks, you pull out a new one.."

"Actually this would be an old trick that I just didn't realize I had."

"Yeah, I guess."

"But Rodney, assuming you are correct about your theory - and I think you are - how does it deal with the field containment problem on Doranda?"

"Don't you see? The particle fluctuations are inherently unpredictable. It takes about a half second for the containment field to respond to the controls and counteract the change in the particle flux, but by that time it is already too late, and there is no way to write an automatic algorithm to anticipate something that hasn't happened yet. But you can do it yourself instead. How? By cheating. You adjust the containment field by anticipating the power surges just before they actually happen."

"You mean I do it manually using my short-term precog ability."

"Exactly."

"But Rodney, I can't do something like that indefinitely.."

"I know. We'll test you, see how long you keep it up."

"So how do we test it?"

"We go back to Doranda and run the experiment again, but this time with you manually adjusting the containment field. We'll see how long you can do it and measure the total amount of energy that gets produced. Eventually you will get tired and tell us to quit and we shut it down for you. It's possible you could do it long enough to full up a whole ZPM bottle. We'll find out. Meanwhile, we'll use the big gun to fire random energy shots up into empty space as a safety valve. That's why there wasn't a buffer installed.."

She finished his sentence, ".. because the gun itself is the safety buffer."

McKay grinned. "Yep. Simple, easy, elegant even."

"Rodney, you are brilliant."

He always enjoyed her heartfelt praise. "Heh, well.."

{ Meredith, my love, you are amazing. } She closed her eyes and kissed her husband. As she continued to kiss him she re-opened her eyes and gave a frowning look at the gawking Czech scientist who was standing behind them. Zelenka took the cue and moved away to a data terminal. She closed her eyes again and resumed her kiss.

{ Meredith, I knew there was a reason I married you.. }

{ For my body of course. }

{ Of course. Ronon has nothing on you. }

{ Well obviously. I got fur. }

{ Yes, I need my Pooh Bear. }

{ Hmm, I think we need to adjourn this elsewhere. }

{ Mmm. Definitely. }

As they left arm in arm, Zelenka muttered quietly to himself, "Proč je život tak nespravedlivý?**"

* * *

Weir was furious. "You idiots destroyed two solar systems!"

The Guardian spoke quickly, "Ma'am, it was an unfortunate accident. None of the nearby solar systems had any gates or human populations."

Weir fumed, "You call that a little accident?"

The Guardian tried to explain it. "Well, yes, by Lantean standards it wasn't all that big a blunder. Our people have screwed up far worse many times. One of our scientists once messed up a high-energy experiment that accidentally triggered a supernova that took out an entire galactic sector by mistake. By that standard, our error was pretty tame in comparison. I mean, it probably wouldn't even make a list of the top 200 Lantean screw-ups.."

McKay smiled weakly at Weir. { Kit, you are not helping. }

Weir was raging, "That's not the point! How am I going to explain this to the IOA?"

McKay said quietly, "Actually, I think it took out five solar systems.."

{ Really? It did? }

"What?"

The Guardian said contritely, "Okay, maybe not in the top 100 then?"

"Five? Are you serious? You are a pair of totally reckless imbeciles! I can't believe this!"

Weir's rant continued for several minutes. McKay could see Sheppard outside the fishbowl standing with his arms crossed while scowling hard at both of them.

After their profuse apologies, which ended with solemn promises to Weir that they would listen to Zelenka and Sheppard from now on, the Guardian then punished herself by spending the next seven days doing low-priority maintenance and cleanup of the outer piers and buildings. Weir exiled McKay to his lab for a week to do mandatory paperwork.

Looking back on the unfortunate incident, the Guardian was grateful that Sheppard had the foresight to bring a hidden Zat gun with him upon their return to Doranda. It was because the duo had ignored his and Zelenka's stern warnings against repeating the experiment so soon. When the Arcturus device went out of control and they realized that they couldn't turn it off, she had insisted on staying behind, intending to sacrifice herself to maintain the containment field while McKay and Sheppard fled on the jumper back to the gate, but neither one would budge. She was so busy concentrating on predicting the next containment deviation that she had failed to sense Sheppard pointing the Zat gun right at the back of her head. It was fortunate for him that she was so mentally preoccupied with preventing the Arcturus device from blowing up the planet that her survival reflexes had failed to stop him from shooting her, thus protecting Sheppard from serious injury. Both men then quickly carried her stunned body back to her jumper and they fled Doranda together while the out-of-control superweapon took random potshots at them.

Sheppard had trouble flying the Guardian's jumper because Tarai kept fighting him for control of the ship to dodge the incoming fire, but they eventually made it out just before the huge energy buildup - which had climbed to truly monstrous proportions thanks to the Guardian maintaining the containment field for almost two straight hours - that had finally ruptured and destroyed Doranda in a massive subspace shockwave that also obliterated several nearby solar systems.

* * *

The Guardian sighed as she looked at her maintenance checklist: 1) Clean and replace the filters on the yeast vats under the North Tower, 2) Clean and mop up the silt and slime that had accumulated in the bottom sublevels of the flooded South Tower, 3) Clean out the grease traps in the mess kitchen, 4) Fix the broken plumbing in the Southwest Tower that was backing up all the toilets, and 5) Do inventory and catalog any Lantean artifacts found in the formerly flooded sections under the South Tower.

By the end of the week she was finally on the last item on the checklist, number 5, the one item on her list that she was actually looking forward to doing. It was because it included a chance for her to visit her father's old secret lab, the birth place where she was incubated in a Time Acceleration Chamber over 10,000 years ago. She had spent her first 12 months growing up in that chamber until she had aged 20 years. During most of that time she was either unconscious, connected to a Learning Machine, or running VR simulations. Her father had released her from the Time Acceleration Chamber for a few days every couple weeks (about every year subjectively) to conduct various medical and mental tests, which also included a rare opportunity for her to interact with other children.

She reached the deserted and nondescript hallway deep under the South Tower. There she carefully replaced all of the fallen wall sconces that were knocked on the floor by the flooding, then she tapped three of them in quick succession and walked through the now permeable wall into her father's secret lab.

As she expected, her father's lab was undamaged, dry, and intact. She had not been inside it for over 6,000 years. The lab sensed her presence and consoles began to light up around her. She pulled out her Dell data tablet and started checking off various items on her list.

One particular item, the Attero Device***, was not on her list. She had deliberately omitted it because she had been instructed to keep the highly dangerous device stored safely within the Forbidden Archives almost 10,000 years ago.

She looked around the lab and kept checking off items. As she slowly walked around the room she approached the alcove that contained her old creche where she had spent most of her life prior to the start of her mission.

She smiled to herself while thinking of those childhood memories. Yes, it would be nice to see it again..

She turned the corner and gasped.

The Time Acceleration Chamber was gone.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* After the siege the _Daedalus_ had delivered some extra naquadah generators to Atlantis.

** Czech translation, "Why is life so unfair?"

*** See season 5, episodes 10 and 11: "First Contact (Part 1 of 2)" and "The Lost Tribe (Part 2 of 2)".


	15. Chapter 15: Visit to Earth (Part 1)

**Chapter 15: Visit to Earth (Part 1)**

The Guardian quietly peered into the Atlantis infirmary and spotted Carson Beckett inside. He was sitting on a stool at a nearby workbench busily typing something into an open Dell notebook computer.

She approached him from behind, "Excuse me, Doctor Beckett?"

He eyes shot up sharply. He recognized her and quickly shut the Dell notebook. "Oh! Uh, hello?"

She tried to be polite, "I'm sorry, I did not mean to startle you."

"You just surprised me a little, that's all." He placed his palm over the closed screen, "Are you not feeling well? Anything you need?"

"I am feeling fine, thank you." The Guardian realized that this was actually the first time that she had ever entered the infirmary simply to talk with Doctor Beckett, not to visit an injured patient nor to be admitted as one (and usually unconscious to boot).

"Doctor Beckett, I was wondering if I could please have a moment of your time?"

The physician stood up quickly from the stool. His nervousness was obvious to her. "Uh, certainly. What can I do for you?" He casually shifted over a step to try to block the Dell notebook from view.

The Guardian sighed inwardly at his transparent behavior; he was almost as bad as Rodney at trying to hide something whenever he felt guilty.

She tried to put him at ease as best she could, "Doctor, please relax. I am not here to accuse you of continuing your research into Wraith genetics behind my back," She glanced at the notebook behind him, "despite the fact you were working on it just now when I walked in."

He glanced behind at the notebook like a schoolboy caught by the teacher. "I'm sorry."

She raised a hand to reassure him, "No, it's all right. It is not something that you need to worry about right now."

She looked around at the others working nearby, "Uh, I'd to talk to you in private, so perhaps we can move this discussion to your office?"

He pointed at the workbench, "This is my office."

She was a bit surprised that his work area was even less private than Weir's fishbowl. She glanced around but didn't see any private rooms, only curtains. "Uh.."

Beckett offered, "Let's go downstairs to the isolation ward; it's currently unoccupied."

"Yes, that would be a good idea."

Beckett led the way downstairs to a door and she followed. He entered a code into a wall keypad and the door hissed open. They went inside. He turned and entered a second code into the interior keypad and the door shut behind them.

The room was sparsely furnished with only a single bed and two chairs. She pulled out one of the chairs and sat, and Beckett did the same. He asked, "Now, what can I help you with?"

The Guardian hesitated, trying to gather her thoughts. "Well.." She bent forward and wrung her hands. Beckett waited patiently for her to continue.

Normally she would have preferred to open a mental communication conduit to explain her dilemma telepathically, as it would have been much easier for her than to try to verbalize her request, but she knew that it required a level of trust that did not yet exist between them.

"I'm sorry, I need a moment. It is difficult for me to speak aloud about private matters like this.."

Beckett tried to encourage her. "Would it help if I promised to keep our talk in strict confidence as your physician?"

She knew that he would try to keep such a promise, but not beyond the point where it endangered the security of the Atlantis Expedition or lives of its members. That was almost certainly the case here.

"I understand, but it isn't necessary. I plan on speaking to Doctor Weir and John Sheppard next about it. I simply wanted to talk to you first before I contact them."

"All right." He waited.

She tried to compose her thoughts into words. "Well, uh, I need your professional opinion about something."

"My opinion? About what?"

"Well, uh.. ugh, this is so hard for me to say out loud." She wrung her hands again. "You see, something happened. To me. When I was captured by the Wraith.."

He nodded, "Oh yes, I remember. You were brought into the infirmary unconscious and I examined you. Other than your being banged up from your battles with the Wraith, and your energy level being low, I didn't find any significant anomalies."

Beckett now looked worried, "Oh dear, did they do something to you that I missed?"

She made a bitter laugh, "You did miss something. You missed a needle mark."

"A needle mark?"

"You never would have found it. It healed before I reached the infirmary."

He was aghast. "Oh my Lord, what did they inject into you?"

She looked down and said softly, "Nothing. They extracted something."

"Extracted what?"

A pause.

"My bone marrow."

He pondered her statement. "I see. Hmm. So they biopsied some of your myelogenous tissue for study. Basically they took your myeloid cells, hemoblasts, hematopoietic." He thought some more, "Wait a moment. Those are undifferentiated stem cells. Using mutagenic chemicals they can be force-reverted into embryonic cells.." His eyes widened, "Oh no.."

"Yes. Now you see why I need to talk to you?"

He said under his breath, "They were trying to clone you. Oh dear heavens." He sat back in his chair and began to ponder the implications.

"Actually.."

He ignored her as he kept thinking aloud to himself, "Crivvens, if they can get their hands on pre-Ascendant powers and control it themselves? What a nightmare."

"No, that's not it."

He sat up straight and looked at her, "No?"

"It's worse than that."

He leaned forward, "Worse? How?"

She said quietly, "I think the Wraith are attempting to fuse my genome with that of a Wraith Queen."

He looked at her incredulously. "Are you bleedin' serious? That is totally daft. Wraith and Atlanteans aren't related like that. You can't just magically cross-match two genomes that don't share a common genetic line..."

She interrupted him. "But in this case they do; that's the problem. You see," she took a deep breath, "I think there is a good chance that the Wraith are descended from my bloodline."

He remembered, "Oh yes, I had theorized that on the first day I examined you. Oh bloody hell."

"You have some of my DNA on file, and you've been looking at it rather closely, yes?"

He sighed, "Aye, I admit it. You're a very interesting lass. I theorized that your genome was assembled in a mechanical DNA sequencer device based on a pre-existing ACGT nucleic acid blueprint. Am I right?"

She admitted, "Yes, you are right. I now have access to that original blueprint, by the way. I found it encrypted in a private database in my father's secret lab."

"You found it?"

"Yes. Would you like to have a copy?"

"I would. Uh, if you don't mind.."

"I'll give it to you. The DNA sequence that the Wraith stole from me contains errors. I'd like you to do a comparison. Perhaps you can tell me what the errors are?"

"I already noticed there were some omissions."

She asked quickly, "You did? How could you tell?"

"Your DNA has some obvious gaps that were replaced with filler. Since there wasn't any wasted DNA material I assumed those were missing sections."

"They probably were. I suspect that might explain why I am missing several pre-Ascendant abilities."

"Missing abilities? Like what?"

She thought a moment. "Like the ability to levitate, long-term precognition, remote mind control, biokinesis, and tychokinesis. I have none of those abilities."

"I'm not familiar with that last one."

"Tychokinesis is the ability to manipulate luck or probability by altering stochastic fields."

Beckett grinned, "Really? My, that would be interesting to see in Las Vegas."

"No doubt." She returned to her main concern, "Doctor Beckett, please, I need to know. When I was in captivity a Wraith had bragged to me that they were planning to combine my genome with a Wraith Queen. It might just have been a boastful lie. Please tell me, is that even possible? Theoretically I mean?"

Beckett sighed, "Acht, you poor lass, I canna say. Normally I would just say no, but since we already know that the Wraith share a common ancestor with you, that changes things. I suppose that it just might be possible that there could be a way using the spans between the intersection points, called combinator codons, that can be spliced to re-converge the two divergent DNA nucleotide sequences and still potentially maintain the biological viability of the resulting organism. Now as to whether it will actually work or not is anyone's guess."

She looked down. "So it might be possible. That's what I feared. Doctor, I have a second question. It's about the gestation and growing period. Assuming it is possible, how long would it take to make such a hybrid?"

He considered her question. "I canna say without first knowing how long it takes for a normal Wraith."

"I understand. Well, if you consult the public database regarding the biology of the Wraith, you'll find that it says that the spawning rate for the Wraith males depends mainly on the amount of bio-energy that the queen injects into the hive ship's vascular system. It can be as short as a week. And since their memory is genetically passed down, the drones emerge fully formed and ready to fight almost immediately."

"A week? Oh that's just bloody wonderful. And the females?"

"Nobody knows. There are a handful of old tales about immature Wraith females being seen by humans in the wild*, and if those stories are true it would mean that they grow up much like human and Lantean children do, over many years, but those stories have never been confirmed."

"It's a pity they weren't."

The Guardian looked down and whispered, "I think those stories must be true.."

Beckett heard her, "What makes you think that?"

She looked up at him, "It's the reason I came down here to talk with you."

"Yes, I was wondering about that. You say the Wraith stole that DNA sample from you during the raid? That happened three months ago. You haven't said anything about this until now. Why not?"

She looked down again. "I know I should have said something sooner. I stayed silent because I thought I had several years before I needed to worry about it."

"So why the sudden rush to confess it now?"

She stood up. "Because I discovered something today."

"You did?"

"A Time Acceleration Chamber was stolen. It was taken from my father's secret lab right under my nose, probably by the Wraith during the raid. They knew exactly where to look for it."

"What is a Time Acceleration Chamber?"

"It is a device that can grow a child to adulthood in months."

Beckett stood, astounded. "It can? Oh dear heavens. That means.."

"It gets even better. A Lantean device called an Instruction Machine was also stolen. I need to go find Doctor Weir and John Sheppard right away." She walked to the door and punched the numbers that she saw Beckett enter on the keypad. The door opened.

She turned back, "Thank you for the information, Doctor. Oh, please feel free to continue your research into Wraith genetics. We'll need it now. I will tell Doctor Weir that I drop my objection."

He felt contrite, "I'm still very sorry about hiding it. It doesn't look like I'm very good at it, though. Well, I'll check into this genetic hybrid business for you. Maybe I can find something that might help?"

"Thank you Doctor." She left.

* * *

The Guardian was standing on the balcony outside the gate room, having just finished her private meeting with Weir and Sheppard. It was a windy day and the clouds were rushing past faster than usual. She was gazing out upon the choppy waters when Sheppard walked up to the railing next to her and put his hands on it.

He looked out. "Kind of chilly today."

"Yes, a bit."

Silence.

While still looking out at the waves he said, "Thanks for telling me and Elizabeth. Are you going to tell McKay?"

"I will tonight."

More silence.

"Genie, it wasn't your fault."

She shook her head. "The city wasn't their target; I was their target. I should have realized that. I didn't."

"Don't blame yourself. You did great during the battle."

She opened her right palm and looked at it. She thought back to her duel when she defeated the Wraith Champion, then fed on it using the energy transfer device embedded in her right palm to replenish her energy reserves to continue the battle.

"John.."

Sheppard shrugged, "That's the nature of war. It's ugly. You did what you had to do."

She lowered her gloved hand and held the railing again. "Have you told anyone?"

"Nope."

"Thank you."

"If it's just Wraith, it's not my business."

She caught the implication. "It is only the Wraith."

"Fine. So, their primary objective was to capture you, not the city.."

".. and the secondary objective was stealing the items from my father's lab, namely the Time Acceleration Chamber and the Instruction Device. Capturing the city was only a tertiary objective."

"You'll want to check the scanner logs from the battle, confirm it was them and not someone else."

"I plan to do that tomorrow with Rodney's help."

"Good. So, tell me about this Wraith dude, the one that captured you and bragged about creating a Frankenstein hybrid from you."

"Well, he's been around a long time. I met him once before. He's a polymath: a scientist, a strategist, a politician. He is a Wraith with ambition. He calls himself Guide. I call him Talker."

"Talker?"

"Yes. He was very loquacious for a Wraith. He wouldn't stop talking about all his grandiose plans."

"Hmm, he sounds like a Todd."

"Todd?"

"A guy I once knew in college. Very pale, wouldn't shut up, really ambitious, became a hotshot lawyer."

"Well this one is a Todd all right. His ambition knows no bounds. He planned the attack on my city, which I must admit he did expertly. He even bragged about influencing Queen Death. His power has to be enormous."

"Not anymore I bet."

She turned to look at Sheppard. "John, what do you mean?"

"Well, he blew it, right? He lost. He didn't get you so he didn't get the city, and he didn't get the city so he didn't get the gate, and he didn't get the gate so he didn't get Earth. He got zilch. His political standing among the Wraith must have taken a heavy hit."

She agreed, "Yes, I see. His standing must have greatly fallen."

"He probably got defenestrated by his queen. He might be even be dead now."

The Guardian mused, "Hmm, no, he strikes me as a survivor type. I think he survived. He would find a way to get back in the good graces of Queen Death."

"How?"

"The hybrid project. It's his last chance to redeem himself."

"Hoo boy. If you're right it means that to get back in her favor again he will be really gung-ho in creating his Frankenstein monster for her. He'll work as hard as he can, take risks, make mistakes.."

The Guardian gripped the railing hard. "I know! Creating sentient life was the biggest mistake my people ever did! He doesn't realize how incredibly dangerous it is." She thought back to the Wraith and the Replicators. "First they fight for their freedom, and next they try to exterminate their creators. He doesn't know that the thing that he is creating will be a disaster for the Wraith."

"Hmm, I get it. Todd is basically like Doctor Frankenstein. He'll suffer the consequences of creating unnatural life, then the Wraith will get their asses kicked for it. Hey, that suits me. That's not a bug, that's a feature."

"You're forgetting one thing, John."

"Which is?"

"I am one of its creators too."

"You think it will come after you too?"

"Come after me and the city? Yes, I think it will. We will need to be ready."

Sheppard considered it. "Well, first it has to still grow up in that time acceleration box thing, right? That will take months. Then it has to break its chains and throttle Todd's neck, then escape, then build up a power base, then kick the Wraiths' butt... all that takes time. There's no rush."

"But John, I'm worried."

"Genie, relax. You are just feeling a little jittery right now because you discovered that the Speed Up Box was missing, so you've been running around today asking questions to Beckett, then talking to us, and you are still in bit of a tizzy about it. So stop fretting. Nothing will happen for months, maybe not for years, maybe never. We don't even know if Todd can even make this thing."

"And if he can?"

"Then we deal with it when the time comes."

"No, I will deal with it."

"Okay, fine, you will deal with it."

She thought a moment. "John, if I fail, you'll need to kill it."

"How could I possibly..?"

"You have a list of contingencies on me. Use one."

"Which would you suggest?"

She thought some more. "A surprise headshot. Do it as far away as possible, at least a kilometer away, so that the bullet takes more than one second to travel. Use a sniper that nobody knows and the biggest caliber you got. Then afterwards immediately decapitate whatever is left and keep it away from the body so it can't reconnect and regenerate."

"Wraith can do that?"

"Yes, I once saw a Wraith Champion reattach his own head. When they have fed on enough humans their regenerative power can be incredible."

Sheppard was taken aback. "Whoa. I get using a sniper on it, but I wasn't thinking that hard-core."

"You have to assume it will possess all my pre-Ascendant mental and physical abilities, plus those of the Wraith. Nothing is too extreme when dealing with a creature like that."

"Well, you know what they say in the military, 'There is no kill like overkill'."

"It is a very good saying."

"Genie, like I said, just relax. We got plenty of time. Look, I'll talk to Teyla. She will tell the Athosians, and they will tell our other allies to keep an eye out. If this thing shows up on any of those worlds we will hear about it. It will give us time to prepare." He put has hand on her shoulder, "Okay?"

She looked down, "All right."

He checked his watch.

"It looks like we have a couple hours until dinner."

They both watched the choppy waves again.

Sheppard said idly, "Say, I noticed that you've been playing chess with McKay in the mess between meals."

She continued to watch the water with him, "Yes, we started a few weeks ago."

"Do you like the game?"

She made a small smile, "Oh I do. It's very challenging. A great game of strategy."

"How well do you play?"

"Rodney always beats me, but I've learned enough now that I think I might actually win a game soon."

"Hey, that's great. I play chess too, you know."

She turned, "Yes, I heard that."

He met her gaze, "Would you like to play a game with me before dinner?"

Her eyes lit up, "Thank you, John. I'd love to. Learning from a new opponent should help me play better."

"There you go." He leaned in and whispered, "And, as a bonus, I'll give you some tips on how to beat McKay."

She was surprised. "Really?"

"McKay is weakest after the opening book, during the mid-game. He tries to look ahead too broadly, and that means he loses depth. To exploit it you have to play a deep offense and keep him off balance. If he gains tempo you're screwed."

"Wow, thank you. But if you keep telling me his tactics I'll end up beating him too much, and he won't like it. I don't want to hurt his ego."

"Then let him win once in a while. The point is, you're in control."

She clapped her hands, "Yes! I love it. Thank you! Ooh, John, you really are such a naughty boy."

He grinned.

She remembered something. "I'd like to return the favor.."

"Hmm?"

She pointed at her tiara questioningly. Sheppard nodded, giving approval.

{ John, I know you've tried to be very discreet, but it's not enough. }

He pushed up from the railing and stood straight. { Hey, I don't know what you're talking about. }

{ Disabling the life sign sensors each time is going to get noticed sooner or later. Rodney will spot it eventually. }

He didn't react.

{ John, I can give you a way to mask your life signs from the city's detectors. It doesn't disable them so there's nothing to show up in the logs. }

{ Hoo boy. }

{ I am glad you finally took the chance. }

{ Look, I made a promise to her. If even a hint of this gets out.. }

{ You're been very careful so far. No one else knows. I will help you keep your secret. }

{ Genie, thanks. }

{ I don't want anything to happen that will disrupt the smooth operation of my city. }

{ Oh, of course. }

She smiled. { You're welcome. }

She started to walk inside. "Now let's go to the mess hall so you can show me how to kick Rodney's butt."

* * *

A few days later McKay was scowling at the chess board in the mess hall. He was sitting across from the Guardian, surrounded by several standing curious onlookers (who had been tipped off by Sheppard that this would be an interesting match). The Guardian was playing white. It was mid-game and she had a slight material advantage.

McKay was studying the board intently. "Hmm. Sara, you're playing deep."

The Guardian glanced appreciatively up at Sheppard, who gave her a silent thumbs-up. McKay did not see it.

McKay pursed his lips together in irritation. The Guardian realized he must have spotted her gambit. Using Sheppard's coaching she exploited McKay's mid-game weakness ruthlessly. This would be a grinding match, but now she knew that she had a good chance to win it.

McKay moved his queen-side rook to block her pawn attack. She responded by moving her queen-side pawn from a2 to a4, knowing that his queen would be pinned soon. Her smile broadened because she knew that she should win now.

He touched his queen-side knight's pawn. The Guardian thought that was odd because moving it forward would end up passing her own pawn and damage his queen-side pawn structure. What was McKay thinking?

He moved his pawn from b4 to a3, then he took her white pawn.

He grinned, "Check."

The Guardian's blinked her eyes. "What? What was that move?"

"I took your pawn. Check."

"Rodney, that move is illegal."

"No it isn't."

She pointed, "You moved your pawn diagonally behind my pawn and then you just grabbed it. You can't do that."

"Sure I can. I did an _en passant_ capture. Perfectly legal."

"An en what?"

Sheppard said, "McKay, did you teach your wife about *all* the rules of chess, or did you leave a few out?"

"Huh? Of course I did."

"Really? Did that by any chance include a certain obscure pawn move that most novices don't know about, a sneaky move that could save your ass if you sprung it on her unexpectedly at a critical moment?"

"I'm sure I explained _en passant_.."

The Guardian yelled, "No you didn't!"

Sheppard tsk-tsked, "McKay, are you cheating against your own wife just to avoid getting shown up in public?"

"I was not cheating!"

"So you told her about _en passant_?"

"Yes, I'm sure I told her."

She yelled, "No you didn't!"

"I did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"You. Did. Not." She walked off.

Sheppard whistled, "Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark."

* * *

The match having been aborted, Sheppard left the mess hall. He was walking to the gate room when McKay ran up and said to him accusingly, "You coached her on how to play!"

Sheppard responded innocently, "Who, me?"

"Oh, don't you give me that innocent look. That gambit was just your style."

"Well, maybe it was. So?"

"I can't believe you were coaching her behind my back. That is so slimy."

"What? She just wanted to win a game for once."

"Feh."

"McKay, let me tell you something. When she had asked me to help beat you playing chess, do you know what she was most worried about?"

"No, what?"

"She was worried that she might start winning too much. She wanted to know if it was okay to let you win."

"What for?"

"Because she didn't want to hurt your ego."

"Really?"

"Yes! That's the kind of woman you married. She loves you so much that she will bend over backwards for you, let you win at chess, give her life for you, and even blow up a few extra solar systems for you. So if I were you, I'd try to be a bit more appreciative of her."

"You're just still unhappy about Doranda."

"No, I'm concerned about you taking your wife for granted."

"Okay, fine. Point taken. Thanks."

"Good. Now find a way to show your appreciation."

"Like what?"

"I dunno, how about taking her on a nice vacation maybe?"

"Where? This galaxy sucks for vacation spots."

"Then take her to Earth, dummy. The SGC's latest transmission said they expect to have another ZPM soon, and when that happens we will have weekly round trips. Most the staff will want to go visit home for some shore leave, so you better get in line early."

"Oh that's right. Good idea. Hmm, so where should I take her?"

Sheppard thought a moment. "How about Las Vegas. Something tells me she'd want to see it."

"Really? You think she'll like to go see Las Vegas with me?"

He smiled inwardly at the memory of their aborted kiss. "Oh yeah, trust me, she'd love it."

* * *

Several days later the Guardian was standing behind McKay watching him prepare the weekly outgoing data transmission to Earth.

She asked, "Ready yet?"

McKay didn't look up from the console. "Just give me a sec. The data package is still compressing."

She was getting excited, "I hope they found it..."

"Sara, we'll know in a minute when we get their response transmission. Just keep your tighty whiteys on, will yah?"

"Rodney, do think they found the second ZPM?"

He kept typing. "Like I said, we'll find out."

"I hope so. Rodney, I so desperately need a vacation."

"You and me both, sister. You're preaching to the choir here."

She imagined it. "We could go to an isolated beach in Tahiti, with nobody else around.."

He continued to type. "And drink Mai Tais under a beach umbrella, yes, yes, wonderful. Just don't bug me."

Weir exited her office and walked over. "Are we ready?"

McKay said without looking up, "Almost."

The Guardian asked Weir, "If they have the second ZPM, do you think Rodney and I could visit Earth today?"

"Hmm, no. They won't be opening their iris for this link because it's only a data transmission. Even if we asked during the transmission it would be too soon. I think they'd want a heads-up first."

"For what? It would just be a private vacation, completely unofficial. I don't want to meet with or talk with anybody. Well, except Sam."

"Sam?"

"Colonel Samantha Carter."

Weir recalled that the Guardian had been exchanging several e-mail messages with her. "That's right, you have a pen pal."

The Guardian was whistful, "I can't wait to meet her in person."

"Well, if they report that they finally found the second ZPM, maybe next week?"

She said disappointedly, "A week.. phooey."

McKay looked up from the panel. "Done."

Weir turned to Chuck. "Dial the SGC."

"Aye, ma'am." He started punching in the chevron symbols. 1..2..3..4..5..

"WAIT!" It was McKay. "There's an incoming transmission from the _Daedalus_."

Weir frowned. "They're on their way to Earth. They should be out of range."

"I know." He read the message. "Oh crap. Crap!"

The Guardian and Weir quickly walked over to his console to view the message.

 _From: Col. Steven Caldwell USAF, USS Daedalus BC-304, Forward from: SGC/USAF/MIL._ _Do not dial gate to Earth. A Trust operative has planted a bomb in Atlantis to be detonated upon completion of the dialing sequence._

The Guardian yelled, "WHAT!?"

She ripped her tiara off her head, then she closed her eyes and started turning 360 degrees, her face showing intense concentration.

Weir asked, "Sara, are you searching for the bomber?"

"Yes." She completed her revolution and opened her eyes again. "Nothing. Dammit!"

* * *

The emergency meeting in Weir's office had broken up, and her senior staff went out to do their assigned duties. McKay ran downstairs to disconnect the ZPM, and Sheppard went out to organize the search with Laura Cadman's EOD team.

Everyone else had left her office except for the Guardian. "Doctor Weir, before I continue my search, can you please tell me how the Goa'uld got involved in this?"

Weir walked over to her. "My best guess is that they fear the Wraith might reach the Milky Way through our gate. Several months ago they infiltrated the upper leadership of the Trust, giving them a stronghold on Earth."

During the meeting the Guardian had used her wrist imager to read the SGC report about the Trust. "So, a clandestine organization hiding inside your government, whose members are paranoid xenophobes who violently oppose all alien influence on Earth, is now being run by the aliens themselves. How ironic."

"Well, that bit of irony has put a bomb in your city."

The Guardian shook her head in disbelief. "I still have a hard time accepting it. An agent? Here?"

"The agent most likely fled on the Daedalus."

"Then I am glad that the ship turned around."

"I bet he's none too happy about it."

The Guardian's face was hard.

"He will be far more unhappy when I'm done with him."

* * *

A few days later the Guardian was in the interrogation room with Doctor Peter Kavanagh, who was seated under a bright spotlight. The Guardian was pacing behind him with her arms crossed. "After the siege you couldn't wait to leave the city, then a few months later you submitted a request to Doctor Weir to return, and now a few weeks later you suddenly leave again? Curious."

He tried to turn his head behind him. "I left because your physical and mental abuse of the staff had made working conditions here intolerable."

"Abuse of the staff? Now Peter, we both know that the only person I ever abused was you."

"So you admit it."

She walked in front of him, "Because you abused me first. Under Lantean law that was a class II mental assault, a serious crime, and you kept doing it even after I told you to stop."

She could sense that he was clearing enjoying the exchange. He made a self-satisfied smile, "Hey, I'm not the one spying on everybody's thoughts. You're the one doing the mental assaults, not me."

"That's ridiculous; I don't do that."

"You were going to mentally scan everyone on the base to find that 'spy', a spy that didn't even exist!"

"You were allowed to opt out."

"You violate the civil liberties of everybody on the base just by breathing."

"Your mind screams guilt."

He challenged her, "So you gonna scan my mind now, huh? Force your way into my head?"

"If I have to." She approached him. "Please be advised that if you try to resist a mind scan it could be very painful for you. If you fight me hard it could even cause you permanent brain damage."

He said defiantly, "There you go. See? Now you're just gonna rifle through my mind without my consent. You're a monster."

Hmm. His protestations were suspicious. Was he lying about not wanting the scan?

She checked him and she immediately sensed his strong reaction. It not only confirmed her suspicion, it made her feel nauseous.

She had already figured out why he came back to Atlantis. It was because he got off on her, and he wanted more. When he had returned he resumed taunting her again to get the reaction that he craved so much. She had finally realized that the best approach in dealing with Kavanagh was to completely ignore him. And so she did. Whenever he tried to do one another one of his mental assaults she simply cranked her limiter up to 100% and shut him out. It happened over and over.

It worked. After many futile attempts to get a reaction from her he finally gave up and left Atlantis. But now he was brought back unexpectedly, under duress, dumped into an interrogation chair, with the object of his sado-sexual obsession staring right at him, looking right into his face, fully focused on him, and angry.

He was thrilled. She could feel the huge emotional rush. She was now giving him everything he had ever wanted from her, and more.

She finally sighed and turned away, "No, I'm not going to scan you."

She sensed his palpable disappointment. "Wait, don't you want to find the bomb?"

She felt the waves of desperation, his craving for her, how he wanted her to forcefully interrogate his mind. She now realized that he wanted that more than anything. Instead she walked away and raised her limiter to 100%.

"You're not gonna scan me?"

"No. We're done." It was because his motive did not fit.

"Scan me."

"Get out."

"Scan me!"

* * *

Weir, Sheppard, Ronon, and the Guardian all waited patiently as they watched Colonel Caldwell get unceremoniously snatched from his command chair on the _Daedalus_ and beamed down to an empty chair in the Atlantis conference room.

He looked around in alarm. "What the hell is going on here?"

The Guardian was flanking his left. Ronon was flanking his right. John was standing near Weir.

Weir said, "I asked Hermiod to beam you here so you could give us the access code."

"What?"

The Guardian peered at him. "Wait." She pointed at Caldwell. "He has two minds inside of him. One is very strange."

Caldwell's eyes flashed. A reverberating voice said, "You found me, but you did not know who I was? Surprising."

Weir stood back. "Oh my god, he's a Goa'uld."

Caldwell smirked, "I see, you really didn't know. So how did you find me then?"

The Guardian crossed her arms. "We spotted you because you had made a basic error in computer security. You see, when you delete a log file it doesn't actually get deleted, only the pointer to it, so Rodney and I found the deleted log file that showed that you had grabbed a copy of the city's operating system, took it back to the Trust, and used it to break the city's root private key. To crack it your people used over a hundred million hacked PCs and smartphones that were running for weeks. Rodney told me that the stolen computer power was worth over 10 billion dollars. I have to say that I am impressed; your countless smartphones and PCs far surpass anything my people had in terms of total raw computational power, and indeed it is unrivalled in the known universe except for perhaps the Asgard."

"Bah."

"That is Earth's style, by the way. They like to apply massive brute force to achieve their goals. That is why Earth has tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, miracle mega-crops for feeding billions of people, and a thousand petaflops of raw compute power. Earth is simply amazing in the way it applies brute-force power like that. I can see why you Goa'uld are so interested in it. From the SGC reports I know about your kind and your thirst for power."

Caldwell was defiant. "I will never give you the access code. Your city will be destroyed. I do not fear death."

She uncrossed her arms said with some empathy, "Look, I understand. I know why you fear the Wraith so much, I really do. They wiped out my race, and they can easily do it to yours. I get it. But I cannot allow you to blow up my city just to stop them from reaching your galaxy."

"You fool, we are not trying to stop the Wraith."

That caught her off guard. "What? You aren't?"

He glared are her. "Idiot. Why should we? You would destroy the city yourself! There is no need for us to do it for you!"

"So why..?"

His eyes flashed again, "Because you must never be allowed to reach Earth."

The Guardian was confused. "Huh? Why not?"

"You do not know why? I should think it was obvious. You are a bigger fool than I thought."

She looked away. "I don't understand.." Her guard was now down and Caldwell took advantage of it. He lunged at the Guardian, but Ronon was ready for it. Ronon grabbed Caldwell's collar from behind and he threw him headlong across the conference table. Caldwell went skittering across the smooth tabletop and fell on the floor in a heap near Sheppard and Weir.

He tried to get up when Sheppard drew his taser weapon and fired. The two electrical prongs hit Caldwell's midsection squarely, puncturing his uniform, and he convulsed on the floor, his body spasming with involuntary muscular contractions.

The Guardian quickly knelt near him. She yelled at Sheppard, "Do it again!"

Sheppard pulled the trigger, and another burst of current ran through the wires to the prongs. Caldwell convulsed a second time.

"It's working! Their minds are separating. Again!"

He fired a third time.

"Stop!" While still kneeling she cradled Caldwell's head. "Colonel, can you hear me?"

"Y-yes.."

"Please, we need the access code."

He grimaced.

"Don't try to say it aloud. Just think it."

{ Sara! We're out of time! }

{ Rodney, get ready! }

"Please, the code. Try!" She held her breath.

Caldwell gave it to the Guardian. He fell unconscious.

{ Rodney! 65247806538952563! }

{ Typing.. it worked! }

The Guardian exhaled. She looked up from the floor at the others. "We're safe."

Sheppard knelt on the other side of Caldwell. "We need to get him to the infirmary."

He started to try to lift him up, but the Guardian put her gloved hand on his to stop him. "No, John. There isn't time. The symbiont is already waking up."

"Damn. I hate to taser him again."

"Don't. I can see the symbiont in my mind; the image is very clear. I can visualize the entire outline of it wrapped around his brain stem."

"You can?"

"The symbiont's blood must contain naquadah. It lights him up like a beacon inside his body. I think I can take it out."

"Genie, I don't know if that's a good idea.."

"John, we don't have time. It's almost awake. I see it. The delineation of its outline is crystal clear to me. Hmm.." She closed her eyes.

There was a flash of light and a writhing snake appeared in her hands. "Got it."

Sheppard stood up and grinned, "Well, well, just look at that. Genie, I'm starting to see why the Goa'uld don't want you visiting Earth."

"Hmm?"

"You're not just a Wraith Terminator, you're also a Goa'uld Buster too."

"Oh, I guess."

She stood up with the silvery snake in her hands. It was still struggling. "You know, I think this little guy is cute."

"You do?"

She pulled the writhing creature in towards her and cooed at it. "It's okay. Shush, calm down. I won't hurt you."

She held the snake out. "John, Doctor Weir, can I keep him? Just as a pet? Please?"

Weir and Sheppard looked at each other.

"No!"

* * *

 _One week later_

The Guardian was standing excitedly near the gate with McKay. Her white duffel bag was thrown over her shoulder, and McKay was holding a roller bag by its handle. With her free hand she grabbed McKay's arm. She kept saying, "Tahiti.. Tahiti.."

McKay grinned, "Yeah."

The gate dialed and whooshed. The pair turned and looked up at Chuck, waiting for the go-ahead.

Chuck was looking at this console. He pressed his earpiece and said into his mic, "Roger SGC. I will get her online." He stood up and said down over the railing, "Ma'am? The SGC wants to talk with you."

The Guardian rolled her eyes and climbed back up the central staircase, with McKay following close behind. He asked, "I wonder what the hangup is?"

She reached Chuck's station and pressed the button on the console near the attached microphone. She leaned over the mic and spoke clearly, "This is the Guardian of Atlantis. Hello?"

 _"Oh, hey. Hi Sara. It's me, Sam."_

The Guardian turned and gave McKay a puzzled look. He just shrugged. Meanwhile Weir had walked up behind them.

She bent over the mic. "Sam? Hi. I'm packed and ready. Is the iris open?"

 _"Yeah, and you have permission to come over if you like. However, uh, there are some things you need to know first."_

The Guardian knew something was wrong. It was not just the odd delay for the radio chat, it was also because she was speaking directly with Samantha Carter and not with Walter or General Landry. She suspected it was because they were trying to gently break some bad news, and they thought Carter was the best one to do it.

She was right.

 _"There's an official Tok'ra delegation here to see you. They arrived yesterday. They're in the gate room right now."_

"What? Sam, this was supposed to be a secret! Why did you tell them I was coming?"

 _"We didn't. There's a Tok'ra seer here. He claims he predicted years ago than an Ancient would visit the Tau'ri on this day. So they came here to witness it and, uh.."_

"Sam! I thought I made it very clear that there were to be no worship ceremonies. It's wrong, it's stupid, and I hate it."

 _"You'll need to at least greet them. Sara, they are really important allies. We need to keep good relations with them."_

She looked at McKay, who said "Look, take five minutes, sign their autographs or whatever. Then it's Tahiti, fun, and sun."

"Rodney, you know how terrible I am at speaking with officials. I have no idea what to say to these people." She turned to Weir. "You promised me if I ever went to Earth to meet any officials that you'd stand by me and tell me what to say. I need you!"

Weir apologized, "I'm sorry, Sara, but I have an important diplomatic meeting scheduled with the Viceroy of Manaria later today. We're trying to smooth over our relations after the flap over the Genii raid. I have to go."

"Elizabeth, please!"

"Sara, you'll do fine. Your manners have really improved since we first met. Just say, 'Hello', 'It is an honor', and 'Thank you very much'. Keep repeating those phrases and you will do just fine."

Sheppard saw the gathering around Chuck's workstation so he quietly walked over to see what was going on.

The Guardian said to herself, "Hello.. It is an honor.. Thank you very much.. Hello.. It is an honor.." She got frustrated, "Oh I just can't do it. Can I instead play the bitchy Bad Cop role? I know that one pretty well. Playing nicey nicey is too hard."

"No, these are allies, Sara. You'll be okay."

The Guardian sighed, "Fine then." She spoke into the mic, "Okay, Sam."

There was a pause on the other end.

 _"Sara, I'm sorry to tell you this, but I am afraid that the Tok'ra are not the only ones here waiting for you."_

The Guardian was exasperated, "What? Who else?"

 _"Sorry Sara, but Mr. Woolsey of the IOA is here too. He wants to meet with you."_

"Sam!"

 _"The treaty requires the IOA to be notified whenever an official alien delegation comes through the gate."_

"But this is not an official visit! It's just a vacation! It was supposed to be a secret!"

 _"I know, I know, I'm really sorry. It's not your visit, it's the Tok'ra. The Tok'ra took it upon themselves to formally notify the IOA Committee a few days ago about the reason for their official visit, so the IOA already knew you were coming. And from them the DOD found about it, so now they want you to go over to Area 51 to give the engineers there your advice on moving the defense Chair. They're installing it now and need some help to get it finished and operational. The DOD says it's a top priority. Sorry again."_

"Argh!"

The Guardian turned to her husband.

{ Rodneeeey! Our vacation! }

{ I know, Kit, I'm really sorry. }

 _"I will tell them you aren't coming. It's a darn shame, of course. A pity, really. I am sure that McKay will still come. General Landry gives his regards."_

Sheppard narrowed his eyes and looked at Weir. Weir smirked, then nodded slightly.

The Guardian watched their behavior and realized that Carter must have subtly communicated something. Whatever it was, it flew right over her head. McKay missed it too. Apparently both Sheppard and Weir had caught it.

Weir leaned over the console microphone and spoke into it, "Stargate Command, this is Elizabeth Weir. Please stand by to receive Doctor McKay. The Guardian has elected to remain behind and sends her regrets."

Sergeant Walter Harriman's voice could be heard. _"Roger, ready to receive Doctor McKay."_

Weir turned off the microphone and smiled.

McKay was confused. "What..?"

Sheppard got a nod from Weir, and he approached the pair.

"Genie, Rodney, listen carefully. This is what we're gonna do.."

* * *

General Hank Landry of Stargate Command was standing next to Colonel Samantha Carter in the gate room deep under Cheyenne Mountain.

McKay came through the wormhole pulling his roller bag. He was alone. The gate shut off behind him.

As he walked down the ramp, he saw that the gate room was filled with visitors. A delegation of Tok'ra was standing to the left wearing their ceremonial robes. One of them looked rather old and was stooped over. Mr. Woolsey was wearing a black suit and red tie and holding a briefcase off to the right. Some unidentified military officials were standing in the rear. In front of them were General Landry and Samantha Carter. Carter was glancing around, and she looked a bit nervous.

McKay walked down the ramp. He said cordially, "General, Sam."

"Doctor McKay."

Carter said quietly, "Rodney."

A USAF official who was standing behind Landry moved up. "Doctor McKay, I am Colonel Peterson of Area 51, head of engineering. Your presence is requested right away. The _Odyssey_ is waiting to beam you over as soon as you leave the mountain."

McKay stopped and looked surprised, "Wait, you wanted the Guardian for that, not me. She didn't come."

"That is correct, but we can still use your help, sir."

"Me? What for? I'm on vacation."

Landry sighed, "I am sorry, Doctor McKay, but the order comes directly from the Joint Chiefs. They would prefer that the Guardian assist with getting it operational - her people built the dang thing - but since she's not here, they want you. Your orders are to report to Colonel Peterson for the week."

McKay had a panicky look on his face, "No! You don't understand! You see, uh..." He looked at Landry, who said nothing. Finally he said, "Aw, dammit." He left in the company of Colonel Peterson, his shoulders drooping as he walked to the exit.

Landry then spoke up loudly to the others who were still present, "Well, everybody, that's it. She isn't coming. Sorry for the letdown."

"No! This is impossible!" The yell came from the old man in the Tok'ra delegation. Another Tok'ra tried to calm him down, but he wrested himself away and approached Landry. The second Tok'ra followed him.

"She is here! She must be!"

The second Tok'ra quickly tried to apologize for the outburst. "I am sorry, General, but he is a seer. He predicted than an Ancient would return to Terra on this date."

"Well, she didn't." Mr. Woolsey walked over to listen.

"General, a seer's predictions always come true."

The old man yelled, "The _Anquietas_ is here! I know it!"

{ Sam, hide me! }

Carter made a startled noise, "Eeep!"

Mr. Woolsey noticed Carter's odd noise. "Colonel Carter, are you feeling all right?"

Carter turned with a surprised look. "Oh. Uh, I'm fine.. Yes, fine."

Then she held her stomach. "No, in fact, I'm not. I'm not feeling well."

"Oh?"

"Something didn't agree with me at lunch."

Landry said soothingly, "Oh dear, we can't have that. Colonel, maybe you should go home, get some rest?"

"Yes sir, I think that's an excellent idea."

* * *

Carter walked back to her lab and shut the door. As soon as the door closed the Guardian materialized next to her wearing her white hood and robe. The white duffel bag was still slung around her back. She dropped the duffel bag and slumped against the closed door.

"Phew."

Carter smiled, "Hey, there you are." She walked up and gave her a hug. The Guardian returned it.

"Sam, thank you for hiding me."

"Hey, it's nice to finally see you."

"Likewise." The looked at each other for several moments, then they both started laughing.

"Boy, I hope this is okay.."

Carter waved her off. "It's fine."

"Really?"

"Sure. Landry knows."

"He does?"

"Yeah. I got the wink and nod."

"Sam, but what if we get caught? I don't want to get you in any trouble."

"Don't worry about it. My boss and my boss's boss are both cool with it. If anyone higher up finds out it will be Jack's problem, not yours or mine."

"Okay."

Carter looked at her battle gear. "Hmm, we gotta fix your clothes."

"Why?"

Carter appraised her flowing white robe with her form-fitting leotard underneath, her gloves, and her tiara. "Uh, you kind of stand out wearing that."

"I do?"

"Yeah."

The Guardian lifted her white duffel bag. "I brought my sun dress. I also have my sunglasses, some strong UV 1000 sunblock lotion, a sun hat, a locator beacon, some MREs, some water bottles for hydration.."

"That's all great. Don't change clothes yet. We need to sneak you out of the mountain first."

The Guardian pulled down her face flap and disappeared. { Where are we going? }

"Whoa. That is weird, you speaking inside my head."

"I can talk out loud if you like, but I think it would be best if I stayed silent until we left the facility."

"Gotcha. Let's go."

* * *

Carter exited the final checkpoint and headed to the outer parking garage. She approached her car and unlocked it.

{ What is that weird contraption? }

"That's my car. An Air Force rental."

{ That is your ground transport vehicle? }

"Yeah."

{ Sam, those are air balloons. }

"Uh, the tires? Yeah, I guess they are."

{ You ride on air balloons? Really? }

"Just get in the back seat and stay low."

Carter bustled the cammouflaged woman into the back seat, then she sat in the driver's seat and started the car.

{ Sam, where's the autopilot? }

"Doesn't have one."

{ You mean that turning the round hoop in front of you that connects mechanically to the air balloons is the only only means of steering this contraption? }

"Uh, yeah."

{ I can't believe it. I thought this was a level 4 civilization! }

Carter headed for the garage exit with her pass ready. The guard waved goodbye as she drove off into the night.

"The coast is clear."

The Guardian turned off her thermo-optic cammo and sat up in the back seat.

Her eyes widened. She saw a huge vehicle rushing towards them, it's lights glaring in the night. "Look out! Gaaah!" She dived under the back seat.

She peered up again. "That thing almost hit us!"

"Sara, it's okay. The truck was on the other side of the double-yellow line."

"But it missed us by only a meter!"

"It's fine."

"Aaahh!" Another car passed by as she dived under the seat again.

"Sara, relax. Traffic going the other way is perfectly normal."

She slowly came up and peered through the windshield as more traffic passed.

"Sam, this is crazy. We are travelling at a speed in excess of 100 kilometers an hour while riding atop four air balloons that are connected to a mechanical hoop for steering, dodging opposing vehicular contraptions that are travelling just as fast that are barely missing us by only a meter in collisions that would almost be certainly fatal, and doing it every few seconds? This is beyond insane!"

"Heh, welcome to Earth."

"This is truly the mad planet."

"Yeah, well, I can't really disagree with that view. Jack sure wouldn't."

Carter saw a sign for a scenic overlook ahead. "We can stop so you can move to the front seat next to me."

Sara remained cowering in the back. "I'm not sure I want to."

Carter parked at the scenic overlook. She glanced around to make sure nobody else was present, then she opened the rear door. "It's okay, Sara. Come on out. It's a nice view tonight."

The Guardian cautiously climbed out and looked around the immediate vicinity. She sniffed the air, then she approached the railing.

The view took her breath away.

It was a glorious night, with cool clear skies and a view that extended for miles over the environs of Colorado Springs. The Guardian saw endless points of light below that extended to the far horizon. The points formed rectilinear grids, and some of the lights were slowly moving. She had never seen a city that spanned so many square miles. Not even the largest cities during her own time sprawled as far and wide as what she saw now below. Those great cities were tall and compact, with spires rising towards the sky. This was something else, a broad expanse of endless civilization that went on and on and on.

She looked up and saw lights up in the sky too, at least a dozen, blinking red white, moving in two opposite directions on their way to or from the Denver International Airport.

She pointed up. "Those flying vehicles, are they operated manually via a mechanical steering hoop too?"

Carter gazed up at the air traffic. "Uh, kind of. The newer jets are fly-by-wire. They all have autopilots, which can maintain a straight-line course and a level altitude. Commercial jets always have two pilots. Lots of training."

"Do they play the near-collision death game up there like they do down here?"

"Oh no. There is a wide clearance between air lanes. Miles apart. And there are air traffic controllers who ensure safe distance between planes."

"Thank heavens. At least there is some sanity in Earth's air travel."

The Guardian sniffed the air and froze. She turned carefully and peered back into the wooded mountainside behind them.

Carter noticed and asked, "Sara, what is it?"

The Guardian peered intently into the woods. "There is a large animal just inside the tree line. It is watching us."

"Probably a deer. Don't worry about it."

"Sam, it's bigger than a horse, with great antlers and a large snout."

Carter peered into the darkness. "Hmm, I don't see a thing. Probably a moose."

"It could be dangerous."

Carter opened the passenger door. "Just get in."

She sat next to Carter. "Where are you taking me?"

"It's getting late so I though I'd take you to my place for tonight. Then maybe tomorrow we'll go shopping."

"Uh, okay." Sara settled down in her seat. She pulled the belt over herself, buckled it, and cinched it tightly.

The pair drove off into the night.

* * *

Carter parked the car in front of her house. "We're home."

Sara got out and marvelled at it. "This is your domicile?"

"Yeah. C'mon in."

"How many others live here with you?"

"Just me."

"Just you? But it's so huge!"

"Not really. Just two bedrooms."

"Two?"

"Pete was going to move in, and we had long-term plans, but.." She stopped.

The Guardian realized that she had inadvertently touched upon a topic that was still painful for Carter. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Let's just get you inside before one of the neighbors sees you." They went in.

A black cat ambled up to greet them in the foyer. Carter smiled, "Hi Sooty."

The Guardian knelt down as the cat approached. It stopped and stared at her. Then it growled. The Guardian stared back silently. She removed a glove and offered her bare hand, which the cat sniffed. Then it meowed and walked off.

Carter put away her jacket and went in to another room. The Guardian followed her in. She looked around the room. "This is your main food processing area?"

"You mean the kitchen? Yeah." Carter opened the refrigerator and looked inside. "Ugh, I don't have much for you."

"Oh, that's too bad. I'm pretty hungry."

"Let's order some take-out, okay?" Carter pulled out a folded menu that was tucked in pocket that was hanging on the side of the fridge. The menu was for the local chinese restaurant. She opened it. "Any preferences?"

Sara walked over and stood behind Carter and peered over her shoulder to look at the menu. It listed 100 items by number. Carter saw her keen interest so she handed her the menu.

The Guardian's eyes ran down the list: The various items featured pork, shrimp, chicken, beef, tofu, pad thai, wontons, egg rolls, chow mein, chop suey, lo mein, curry, BBQ...

"This, this is incredible."

"What would you like?"

The Guardian was almost drooling.

"All of it."

"Uh, heh, that's a little much." Carter took back the take-out menu. "I tell you what, let's order some sampler platters, and you can try them, see what you like, okay?"

"I'll like everything."

"Well, you might like some things more than others." Carter pulled out her cellphone and dialed. As she was phoning in the take-out order the Guardian spotted Sooty watching her from the living room. She walked over and sat on the couch near the cat.

After Carter had hung up the phone she went into the living room and found Sooty laying dreamily on the Guardian's lap, purring contentedly. Carter smiled, "That's nice. I was worried Sooty didn't like you."

The Guardian petted the happy cat. "Well, it was understandable. Sooty was worried that I was going to steal you away. I told him I wasn't, and now he's relieved."

Carter tilted her head. "Wait, you talked to my cat?"

"Yes. He's very intelligent."

"You talked to my cat.."

"Well, not literally as such. I mean, we don't vocalize our thoughts to each other. Animals work on a more basic level: emotions, desires, needs."

"Oh?"

"He considers you his personal servant. He thinks I'm another feline. He was worried that I was going to take you away and make you my servant. I told him I'm not, so he's happy now."

Carter was bemused, "So the old saying, 'Dogs have owners and cats have staff' is really true?"

"Oh yes. That's how he sees you."

"Why am I not surprised.."

Carter's cell phone chimed. She put it to her ear. "Carter."

She listened. "Hi Jack. Yeah, she's here. I just ordered Chinese take-out. Hmm? She's doing well. She thinks cars are death traps. Oh, you too? Right now she's talking to my cat. Yeah, she is."

She listened some more. "Huh? Seriously? They better not. Look, I get at least one day with her. Yes, I do." She listened again. "Oh come on! I get a day. She's gonna need an outfit, right? So for that I get a day. I'll make sure she looks fine, so stop worrying." More listening. "Dang it, Jack, you're getting the bill. Bye."

Carter rolled her eyes. "Hoo boy."

"Sam, what's wrong?"

"Word's gotten out. About you."

"It has?"

"Yeah, dang it. It's above Jack's level too. He can't block it."

The Guardian looked at her dolefully. "Sam, this was supposed to be my vacation.."

"I know. At least we'll have a fun day together tomorrow, okay? We'll go shopping, get you a few nice outfits, something appropriate. It'll be fun."

"For what?"

Carter looked at her sheepishly. "Uh, for a White House visit. I'm really sorry.."

"Sam, no!"

"I know. So sorry.."

"Sam, I need Doctor Weir with me! There's no way I can do that by myself!"

"Jack said he's going to try to beg it off for you. Run interference."

The Guardian was getting grumpy. "He better."

* * *

Vice President Robert Kinsey was sitting in his office in his official residence, located on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory (USNO) in Washington DC.

His phone rang and he picked it up. "Kinsey."

 _"Sir, the handler reported in. It's confirmed. Plan A has failed."_

Kinsey was angry. "Well obviously it failed, dammit! They just gated in a few hours ago!"

 _"Sorry sir."_

"Bunch of morons. Well, the good news is that our SGC mole confirmed that she's definitely here. I already put a bee in Hayes' bonnet about it, got him interested in doing a quick meet-and-greet, so that damn O'Neill can't interfere."

 _"That sounds wonderful, sir."_

"Plan A didn't work, so we do Plan B."

 _"Very well. I'll make the preparations on this end."_

"Good. Once we bring her in.."

Kinsey's eyes flashed white.

".. she will a be worthy addition to the fold."

* * *

 **A/N:**

* See Season 2 Episode 7, "Instinct". It was the only time an immature Wraith was ever shown in the series.


	16. Chapter 16: Visit to Earth (Part 2)

**Chapter 16: Visit to Earth (Part 2)**

The Guardian waved goodbye to Samantha Carter at the front door as Carter drove off in her car to pick up the take-out order from the local Chinese restaurant. She had decided to stay behind instead of riding along with Carter in the deadly vehicular contraption. Carter promised to return shortly.

Now alone, the Guardian went back inside and explored the house. She went into the kitchen and opened various cabinets and drawers. Finding nothing of interest, she went into the den and saw a desk with a Dell PC tower and a WiFi router underneath. Along the walls of the den were bookshelves full of physics texts and journals.

She next climbed the stairs to inspect the two bedrooms, both of which were tastefully and modestly furnished. She was astounded at how large the house was compared to the living quarters that she shared with McKay on Atlantis.

Having found nothing of interest, she went back downstairs to the living room and approached a flat display panel that was mounted on a wall. She went to the couch, sat on it, and picked up what looked like a remote control unit. Sooty jumped into her lap again and she petted him absently while she was studying the remote. She pressed the 'On' button and the flat panel lit up showing a menu for something called 'TiVo'. She scrolled down the offered menu to 'Suggestions' and selected it.

Apparently the TiVo unit had helpfully recorded some TV shows that it thought Carter might like to watch. Curious, the Guardian scrolled down a list of a couple dozen different shows, mostly documentaries, news, and some drama/SF shows. She clicked through the offered list and watched about 30 seconds of each show one by one.

Meanwhile, Carter unlocked and opened the front door while carrying bags of food items. "Hey Sara."

Carter saw the TV. "I see you the found the TiVo. Find anything interesting you like?"

The Guardian was still clicking through the shows. "Not really."

Carter went in to the kitchen and began to unpack the take-out order. Meanwhile the Guardian kept watching snippets of the shows. Eventually she reached a show called 'Wormhole X-Treme!'.

She viewed it and her jaw dropped.

The opening teaser showed a military squad consisting of four members: a stocky man with a crew cut, a man wearing wire-rimmed eyeglasses, a brunette woman, and a bald man slathered in what looked like metallic grease paint. They were all dressed in military fatigues that were not entirely dissimilar to the BDUs worn by the members of SG-1 when going off-world. What astonished the Guardian was that the foursome walked through what looked like a badly designed facsimile of a Stargate portal.

She paused the show to read the guide description:

 _Tonight on Wormhole X-Treme! "The Fall of Ronimun*"._

 _Colonel Danning and his team of intrepid explorers answer a distress call from the kingdom of Ronimun, where its beautiful leader, Sentinelia, fights bravely to save her island nation before it sinks beneath the waves under the onslaught of the vicious Snake Men. Can Colonel Danning win over the ravishing princess and convince her to trust him before it is too late? (Season 8 Episode 12, recorded 2 days ago)_

What in the world?

She hit the Play button to resume the playback of the TiVo recording and watched the opening credits:

 _Starring  
Nick Marlowe as Colonel Danning  
Yolanda Reese as Major Stacy Monroe  
Raymond Gunne as Dr. Levant  
And Introducing  
Douglas Anders as Greer_

She fast-forwarded through some commercials. She watched a bit of the show, then she fast-forwarded again and watched a bit more. She repeated the cycle a few more times until she stared at the screen dumbfounded.

She slowly stood up in shock.

"SAAAAM!"

Carter heard the piercing yell from the other room. She ran in.

"What's wrong?"

 _"As a matter of fact, it does say Colonel on my uniform."_

The Guardian was standing while pointing her finger at the screen.

Carter looked at the TV panel just in time to see Colonel Danning plant a deep kiss on a buxom young woman who was wearing a frilly white gown over a thin blue camisole with a plunging scalloped neckline that barely contained her heaving DD bosom. A gaudy silver crown with red spikes was atop her luscious blond hair.

The Guardian kept jabbing her finger at the screen.

"What is that!?"

Carter was unsurprised. "Huh. Looks like they started working in the new material already."

"New material?"

"Relax, Sara, it's just a security cover." Carter quickly explained to the bewildered Lantean about a certain Hollywood television producer by the name of Martin Lloyd, a space alien who had accidentally learned about the Stargate Program before losing most of his memories, and who then had unwittingly created a TV series based on the program. The US Air Force decided to allow the show to continue because it provided a useful cover in case of a possible security leak. In return for Lloyd's continued cooperation the US Air Force would occasionally give him some new 'material' for his TV show.

"That's our agreement with Lloyd. It helps maintain the security of the program. It's worked out pretty well."

"You mean that's supposed to be me?"

"Sort of?"

The Guardian kept looking at the TV panel with her head tilted. She watched Colonel Danning continue to make out with Sentinelia until he bent her backwards in his passionate embrace and they both went off screen and a commercial break started.

With considerable incredulity that was tinged with more than a hint of worry she asked, "Is that man supposed to be Colonel Sheppard?"

Carter replied quickly, "No, he's modelled on Jack O'Neill back when he was the colonel leading SG-1."

The Guardian turned and asked, "Uhm, does O'Neill do that..?"

Carter said dismissively, "No way."

"I see." The Guardian was inwardly relieved that Sheppard's early seduction attempt on herself was not being recreated in a badly dramatized and exaggerated form on Earth's television. She decided to quickly change the subject. "So, those four are modelled on SG-1 then? That means that Stacy Monroe is you, and Doctor Levant is Daniel Jackson, and this Greer person is.."

".. is Teal'c, yep."

The Guardian looked at the screen for a few more seconds before switching it off. "This is pointless frivolity."

She turned to Carter, "I think your world is run by lunatics."

Carter sighed, "Well, let's just say that there are some folks here who would not entirely disagree with you."

* * *

Carter went back to the kitchen to finish unpacking the take-out order and the Guardian followed her in. She watched with eager anticipation as Carter brought out several small wire-handled white cardboard containers and opened them individually. The Guardian deeply inhaled the delicious aromas.

Carter said helpfully, "I got a little of everything. I'll set the table and then we can dig in."

The Guardian watched patiently as Carter opened a drawer and laid down on the dinette table a pair of place settings: a napkin, knife, fork, spoon, and chopsticks. The Guardian inspected the utensils, thinking about how wasteful it was to have so many over-specialized food-eating implements. The chopsticks were sealed in paper, which Carter tore open. She snapped apart a pair and handed the two wooden sticks to the Guardian, who held them awkwardly, one in each hand. She looked at them with some apparent confusion.

"Where is the hinge?"

"No, you hold them like this." Carter demonstrated by placing one stick at the base of her thumb and index finger while holding the second in the same hand like a pencil above it. She made a pincer motion. The Guardian watched carefully and reproduced the configuration in her own hand.

Carter opened a white cardboard container and poured a serving out onto the Guardian's plate. "Try some pad thai?"

The Guardian's eyes lit up. She carefully used her chopsticks to pick up a piece of curled whitish-reddish seafood. "What is this?"

"That's called shrimp."

She bit into it. "Oooh, I like shrimp!"

Carter dropped a few tofu cubes on the Guardian's plate. "Here, try this."

"What is it?"

"Fried tofu, made from soybeans."

"So this is what cooked soybeans look like?" She ate one. "I like tofu!"

Carter grinned, "You really do like everything."

After fumbling with her chopsticks for a bit the Guardian soon gave up and decided to switch to a fork for greater speed in allowing her to quickly consume the delicious cornucopia of Chinese food items. Carter gave her a serving of stir fry and dumplings, which of course the Guardian also ate enthusiastically.

She talked with her mouth full, "This is heavenly, even better than I ever imagined. These food items are all fresh?"

Carter swallowed. "I think so."

"You must be a very wealthy person to afford all this."

Carter chuckled, "Oh no. Everybody eats stuff like this."

"Amazing. This food is seasonal?"

"No, you can buy it year around."

"Then this meal is a miracle."

"Really? How do you mean?"

"Just look at all this." The Guardian pointed at her plate of stir fry with her fork. "The tomatoes, the peppers, and the shredded lettuce are summer crops; the dumplings are made of wheat, a fall crop; the meat is typically butchered in the winter when other food sources are not available; the shrimp comes from thousands of miles away. To provide all these fresh food items simultaneously year-round requires collecting them from opposite hemispheres of your planet using an incredibly fast and efficient worldwide transportation supply chain. The logistics must be mind-boggling to allow billions of people to eat foods of this kind daily."

"Really? It seems pretty routine."

"It is absolutely amazing to me."

"Sara, isn't your technology far more advanced than Earth's? Your people have flying jumpers and hyperspace drives."

"True, but we have nothing like your scale, your logistics. The worldwide effort required to create meals to feed billions like this routinely and at such minimal cost is truly a miracle."

Carter made a small shrug, "Huh. I never thought of it like that to be honest."

"Earth is indeed incredible."

"Uh, thanks, I guess. Want some more?"

"Please. But I don't want to take yours?"

"Don't worry, I bought enough for six people. Eat up."

"Thank you!" The Guardian proceeded to sample some of every carton, trying everything, and pronouncing it all to be wonderful.

Carter was glad that the Guardian was enjoying Earth's food so much. The fact that she was planning to send O'Neill the entire bill for the six-person meal made it even better.

By the end of the meal about a third of it remained. The Guardian stood and helped Carter clean up the table and put the leftovers in the fridge. Carter then opened the final sealed paper bag, bringing out some sticky rice cakes and fried sesame balls for dessert.

The pair sat back down at the table as the Guardian started popping the rice cakes in her mouth. "Oh these are marvelous."

"I'm glad you like them."

The Guadian was wistful, "This is so perfect. I only wish Rodney was here."

Carter apologized, "I know. Sara, I'm sorry about the vacation snafu."

The Guardian talked through a glob of pastry, "It was not your fault that the Tok'ra had a seer." She swallowed. "I do feel bad for Rodney though, having to work during his vacation."

Carter finally put down her chopsticks, "Sara, can I ask you a question?"

"About what?"

"About you and McKay."

"Yes?"

"It's just that..", she shook her head, ".. I mean, McKay?"

"Yes?"

"You two got married?"

"That's right."

"What.. how.. I mean, I don't want to pry, but seriously, you and McKay?"

The Guardian swallowed her third pastry and smiled. "Well, it surprised me too."

Carter mumbled, "I bet."

"Him too."

That surprised Carter. "Hmm?"

"Would you like to know how it happened?"

Carter thought a moment. "Yeah, I kinda do.." She quickly added, "But look, Sara, you don't need to tell me about your private life."

The Guardian leaned forward in earnest, "But I want to tell you. You're one of my few friends, someone who I feel I can share things with."

Carter blushed a bit. "Wow, thanks, Sara. I'm honored. I think of you as a friend too." She looked down. "To be honest I don't have a lot friends either, not close ones anyway."

"We're both private people. I've never really explained my relationship with Rodney to anyone else before, but Rodney says you are his friend too so I don't think he would mind."

"Uh, sure, we're colleagues."

The Guardian tried to think. "I'm trying to find a way to explain it to you, but it is hard for me to do it speaking out loud."

Carter rested her chin in her hands. "You want to use telepathy to tell me?"

{ Yes. Is that all right? It will be much easier for me. }

Carter was startled. She forced herself to relax, "If it makes you more comfortable, it's fine."

{ Thank you. Well, let's see. As you know, I was created to be the Guardian of Atlantis and spend a lifetime alone protecting the city, so I was never trained with any social skills. Because of that I am rather socially inept. }

Carter leaned forward. "Sara, honestly, you seem to be doing fine with me."

{ Really? }

"Yes, you're doing rather well. You seem to be a nice person."

{ Thank you, Sam, and I'm glad you think so. I think that I am slowly improving at it with friends, but I am still really bad at dealing with strangers. Rodney is also pretty bad in dealing with others, although I think he's improving too. Basically we are both social misfits. }

"I see, so you both shared something in common. Was that how your relationship got started?"

{ No. That was not the reason we grew close. }

"Oh?"

{ You have to first understand what keeps me apart from everyone. To you humans I am a powerful alien, one with abilities that are both strange and dangerous. I can spy on another person's private thoughts, even kill with my mind. That tends to push other people away from me. }

"So they fear you."

{ With cause. Another problem is that I'm an artificial entity. I was designed, not born, created to be a living weapon. Originally I had only a single purpose: to guard the city. When your people arrived they feared me at first. Later they used me as an asset against the Wraith. They also used me to provide them with information about my people.. }

"..to reveal the 'mysterious secrets of the Ancients'."

{ Yes. Doctor Daniel Jackson sees me basically as an information source. The military see me as a weapon. Everyone sees me as some kind of an instrument or asset, a resource, basically a tool. And I accepted that. I was just fulfilling a role. It didn't even occur to me to try to establish friendships with anyone, much less a relationship. }

"But wasn't Rodney the same as Daniel and the other scientists? Just pumping you for information?"

The Guardian shook her head. { No, Rodney was different. True, he would ask me endless questions about astrophysics or quantum mechanics or whatever, but it was not the same as the others. For him it was the act of asking of those questions that was the source of his enjoyment. It was the process of discovery that pleased him so much, not the end result. I enjoyed it too. I quickly learned that if I simply gave him the answer he sought he would be disappointed. }

"Disappointed?"

{ Because he wasn't given the opportunity to first try to figure it out for himself. So instead I would give him only a clue, and he would then rush ahead and try to figure out the rest on his own, working out as much of it as he could. Then I would give him another small hint and he would do it again. We were playing a fun game, and we were playing it together. It was really delightful for me. I was like a teacher with a brilliant student. }

"I get it. Then one day the student and the teacher fell for each other, right?"

The Guardian shook her head again. { No, not like that. }

"No?"

{ Not like a teacher, like a partner. You see, we were soon surpassing my own level of knowledge, searching for answers together as equals. I stopped playing the game as his teacher and started playing it as his teammate. Whether it was saving my city from the storm, or salvaging the drones from the Lagrangian points, or figuring out how the Wraith knew about Everett's space mines, we were working on solving the problems together. We were doing amazing things that neither of us could have done separately. We made incredible achievements.. }

"Like blowing up five solar systems?"

The Guardian gave her a droll smile, { And mistakes too. }

Carter started to understand. She knew that Rodney McKay had always seen herself as his rival, a competitor. The Guardian was the opposite. She had started out as McKay's teacher, then she became his partner and collaborator, and in doing so she became his friend, and eventually she became his best friend.

Then something more.

The Guardian had no other close friends on the base. Unless someone wanted to ask her for something she had little interaction with most of the Expedition. The few members that interacted with her socially, like Cadman, were only casual friends.

Carter lifted her chin up from her hands. "I think I get it now."

{ I love him, I really do. And he loves me. He loves me for who I am, as a person. We mentally Bonded and it is beautiful. }

"Hey, I'm glad for you. For both of you."

The Guardian blushed slightly. "Thank you. I've never felt more happy."

"That's wonderful."

{ And it's not just Rodney that makes me happy now. }

"Oh?"

The Guardian leaned forward, "Thanks to the Expedition I don't feel useless anymore. I'm actually making a difference in the Pegasus Galaxy, helping the lives of humans in their struggle against the Wraith. If your kind had not come to Atlantis I would have remained a living ghost that never left the city, that never did anything, of no use to anyone or anybody. I might not even be alive right now if your people hadn't raised up the city. So yes, I am very grateful and happy."

The Guardian was embarrassed that she had made such a heartfelt statement out loud and she blushed some more.

"Well, the feeling is mutual, I think, given your White House invitation tomorrow."

The Guardian slumped slightly in her chair, "Oh. I had forgotten about that."

"Don't worry, we'll do some shopping tomorrow to get you ready."

She was glum. "I really wanted this vacation to be kept a secret."

Carter felt bad for her. "Yes, well, unfortunately word got out about you, so you're scheduled to meet privately with President Hayes at 17:45 tomorrow. That is, unless Jack can get it cancelled for you."

The Guardian sighed, "I appreciate General O'Neill's effort on my behalf, but I doubt he will be successful." She knew that she had a knack for attracting unwanted attention wherever she went. Still, she was willing to suffer through the meeting if it would help pay her debt to the humans. "Sam, I just want to confirm, this is only a quick greeting and nothing more, right?"

"Should be. I'll call Jack and check."

* * *

After the meal Carter was on the phone with O'Neill, so the Guardian decided to wander around the house some more by herself. Eventually she opened the rear door and went outside to explore the backyard. Her view of the surrounding environs was obstructed by a privacy fence, so in a single leap she jumped up to the nearest roof. She jumped again to reach the upper roof, and from her high position she scanned the night skyline.

To the west she could see Interstate 25 and its endless stream of vehicular traffic moving under a row of well lit sodium-vapor lamps that flooded the area in a bright orange glow. The side streets were also well illuminated as were many nearby yards. The light pollution blotted out all but the brightest stars in the sky, which disappointed her.

She heard a faint rustle down below. She swiftly turned towards the source of the noise. Far below in one of the darker areas beyond the privacy fence she spotted a four-legged predator with a dark-orange fur coat. It had large triangular ears and a bushy tail. The creature was larger than Carter's cat.

The creature looked up, and having decided that the larger predator that it saw gazing back down at it from the sloped rooftop was neither a threat nor a potential food source, the fox trotted off into the night.

The Guardian's gaze returned upward. Squinting a bit, she was able to discern some of the brighter stars.

 _These were the stars my father saw._

She sniffed the air, filling her nostrils with a riot of smells and complex aromas that were suffused with life. She imagined that she was smelling the billions of human inhabitants each individually, and she scrunched her nose with repulsion.

So many people. Before she came to Earth she had imagined that they would be all pressed together cheek and jowl, barely able to move. Instead she saw below her the sprawl of Earth's humanity spread out endlessly in every direction. It was nothing like the compact little towns found in the Pegasus Galaxy, where the majority of the human population on any given world typically had lived within one day's walk of the local gate, with a total population measured in the thousands or tens of thousands. Only a handful of worlds had populations in the millions, like Olesia, Sateda, and Hoff. Large populations required technology to sustain themselves, and thus they did not last long under the sufferance of the Wraith.

She listened. Everywhere there was sound, from the steady humming noise of the traffic on I-25, to the individual noises of cars on the local streets, to the barking dogs, and the sounds of TV programs emanating from open windows - everywhere there was a dull din of noise. It was nothing like her silent nighttime vigils in Atlantis standing alone on the rooftop of the empty North Tower, dark and quiet, with the blazing starry panorama of the Pegasus Galaxy arching mutely overhead. The sky now above her had the dull glow of dark orange due to the widespread light pollution, and she was disappointed that she could not see what must be a truly amazing band of stars spread across the night sky of the much larger Milky Way galaxy.

Eventually she went back inside. Carter saw her and walked up, "Jack confirmed that it will just be a quick meet-and-greet with the President for about five minutes. He wants to brief you by phone tomorrow."

"Fine."

"So, did you like the meal?"

Instead of responding to her query the Guardian stretched her arms and yawned loudly, then she burped.

Carter smiled, "I'll take that as a 'yes'." She looked at her watch. "It's nearly midnight, and we have a long day tomorrow. Let me show you to your bedroom and get you tucked in."

* * *

The Guardian was alone in the guest bedroom. She wrapped a heavy quilt around herself to keep her thermophilic body warm. She was unable to sleep, gazing up at the ceiling of her bedroom, pondering everything that she had seen, heard, and smelled that evening.

During that short time she had seen only the barest glimpse of what Earth was like. It still seemed like a fantasy to her.

Earth was fascinating. It was incredible.

No, it was impossible.

No civilization should be able to survive that way, not on that scale, not for that long, not without immediately falling apart into a total anarchy of chaos, famine, and mass death.

Earth had no central government, no controlling authority. At least a half dozen nations owned civilization-destroying weapons that could be launched on a moments notice. And yet Earth's humanity was happily fed and clothed in relative comfort, driving blissfully to and fro in their automobiles, watching silly TV shows, eating Chinese-takeout, all while living their lives with no awareness of just how incredible it all was.

Something or someone had to be watching over this planet.

It was the only explanation.

 _Rodney, everything is rare. He seems to like rarity. Rarity is interesting._

Planets were rare. Planets with life were rarer still. Earth, the planet with the highest quantity of intelligent life flourishing on such an astounding scale, was unique. It was the most amazing planet in the known universe.

Surely the _Excogiatoris_ had to be watching this world with keen interest.

More than watching. Earth was impossibly stable. He had to be doing something, either directly or indirectly, to prevent such a miraculous planet from immediately self-destructing into total chaos and anarchy.

Her people had believed that the Designer was a high and remote entity who did not interfere or participate in his own Creation, indifferent to the suffering and yearnings of mere mortals.

But now she knew that they were wrong.

The evidence for it was right here. It was right under her feet. It was so obvious that a child could see it.

 _"Doctor Kurosawa, your God not only interacts with you and interferes with his Creation, but according to your religious writings He actually injected himself into his Creation as a human being, to experience it all for himself? All because he cares for you?"_

 _"Yes. Because He cares for us. He cares that much."_

 _"This is completely beyond me."_

She continued to gaze up at the ceiling. Having now seen Earth first hand she began to understand. It was obvious to her now that He did indeed care for these people. He cared for them enough to create and sustain such an incredible world.

He was indeed interfering with His Creation, participating in it, interacting with it. Nothing else could explain a planet like Earth.

But how was He doing it?

What was the best way to interact with them?

Do it as one of them.

It made sense.

After all the _Vigilante_ sometimes did that, and if they could do it why couldn't He do it as well?

But why just once? And why with so few?

 _He seems to like rarity._

Was that the reason? Was it simply because it made His interaction with them all the more precious? More special? Or was there something more to it than that?

She felt that there was something missing in her line of reasoning, something important.

Yes, something was missing. She couldn't put her finger on it.

She kept on pondering the question until she gave up. Eventually she fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning the Guardian was walking alongside Carter through the local supermarket as she pushed her shopping cart along. The temperature was sufficiently warm outside enough that the Guardian was not unduly discomfited wearing her white sundress. Her tiara was conspicuously missing, a necessary omission to avoid attracting unwanted attention from the market's clientele.

She stayed close to Carter, gripping the arm of her blouse as they walked, as she marveled in wonder at all of the food items on display. They were walking through the produce section where a seemingly endless variety of fresh fruits and vegetables were laid out in neat rows, more kinds than she had ever imagined. The sheer abundance of foodstuffs was staggering.

She spotted a particular yellow vegetable that caught her eye, one that had hundreds of small nodules that were attached in long neat and straight rows along a central shaft of cellulose. She grabbed one. "Oh! This is it! Corn!" Carter amiably put eight ears in her cart.

The Guardian turned and looked elsewhere, spotting a different yellow one. "Oh! Oh! What is that?" She ran towards a display stand with dozens of clusters of long curved fruit items that were each wrapped in a thick yellow skin.

"Uh, those are bananas."

"We have to get those!"

"Sure." Some bunches went into the cart.

The cycle repeated itself with potatoes, squash, apples, oranges, carrots, and several more fruits and vegetables until Carter decided it was best to move on to the meat section, where it was repeated with steak, chicken, pork, and seafood. Next was the dairy section.

Soon Carter's shopping cart was filled to the brim with enough food to feed a platoon for a week. She finally decided that it was enough and they headed to the checkout, with Carter carefully saving the final grocery bill so that she could later hand it to O'Neill.

As they drove back home the Guardian was mumbling to herself in the passenger seat, "So much.. it's like heaven.."

Carter spoke while driving, "Sara, I gotta ask you something."

"Yes?"

"You have the appetite of a lumberjack. How in the world do eat so much food and not gain any weight?"

The Lantean replied cheerfully, "The food that I digest goes to my biopacks. When they hit 100% my stomach feels satiated and I stop eating."

"What if you keep eating beyond that?"

"Well, I can force myself to eat more, which will fill my biopacks to 120% or perhaps even up to 150% if I really push myself, but it is difficult to do and not healthy."

"Sara, I'm totally jealous. I have to diet like crazy."

Sara countered, "Actually it is a liability for me, a weakness."

"How so?"

"If my biopacks become depleted my body will start burning its own tissues for energy. Because of my high metabolism if I don't eat to replenish them quickly I will soon fall unconscious and die."

"I see."

"On Atlantis it is never a liability because the yeast vats give me all the nourishment I'll ever need. It only becomes a problem if I travel off-world, which is something I was never designed to do."

She omitted the fact that she had a second emergency source of nourishment if she needed it, one that she had resorted to using during the siege on her city. She absently clenched her right hand, feeling with her fingers the ridges of the Lantean energy transfer device that was embedded in her right palm.

 _Genie, what are you?_

 _John? Don't look, don't look!_

She closed her eyes as she continued to feel the radial flanges with her fingers, ruminating about her dark and hidden origin.

 _Why do you believe that these human vermin are your family? They are not your family. Do you want to know who your true family really is? Your true family is glorious._

Was her DNA blueprint really used to create the Wraith? Was she indeed their progenitor?

No, she refused to accept the accusation. Her tendency towards denial kicked in, blocking any further thoughts on the subject.

There was no further conversation on the way back home.

* * *

The pair had just finished carrying the carload of groceries into Carter's kitchen when Carter's cellphone chimed. She answered it.

"Carter. Hey, did you cancel it? Oh, I see. Yeah, she's right here. Just a sec." Carter waved the Guardian over. She sat across from Carter at the kitchen table.

"I'm switching to the speaker." Carter put her cell phone in the middle of the table.

 _"Hey kid, General O'Neill here. You there?"_

The Guardian was nervous. She leaned in and enunciated carefully, "Hello, General O'Neill. It is a pleasure for me to speak with you."

 _"Boy you sound stiff. Just call me Jack."_

Carter gave her an encouraging smile so she decided to try again, "Hi Jack?"

 _"That sounds better. So how you doin' kiddo? Is Carter taking good care of you?"_

She started to relax. "Yes. Our time together has been very enjoyable."

 _"That's great. Look, I'm really sorry about this whole vacation cock-up."_

She thought about her aborted vacation and forgot her nervousness. O'Neill heard a churlish voice in his ear.

"So am I. Jack, this visit was supposed to be a secret, but it seems that just about everyone in the Milky Way Galaxy knows that I am here on Earth."

 _"Yeah, my bad. I guess I'm a rotten host. I told Landry to use Carter to sneak you in, and you two did a great job doing it, but they still found out about it somehow. Damn quick too."_

"How quick?"

 _"SIGINT detected some com chatter before you guys even left the parking lot."_

"Jack, it sounds like you have a security problem."

 _"I know, I'm working on it. I couldn't cancel your meeting because of it, but I did manage to delay it for 24 hours while we investigate."_

"That helps. Jack, what is my ROE?"

 _"Earth is outside your jurisdiction. You are only a guest here, a visitor."_

"Should I assume that I am visiting allies or enemies?"

 _"Hmm, good question. Assume both."_

"How vigorously can I defend myself?"

 _"Do absolutely nothing around the President or his Secret Service detail at any level. Not even harsh language._ _Otherwise you can protect yourself as long as you_ _don't get noticed."_

"Don't get noticed? How do you mean?"

 _"You need to keep a low profile. Look, just don't do anything that I'll be reading in tomorrow's newspaper, okay?"_

"I understand. I assume that you will not be present at tomorrow's meeting?"

 _"No, I got frozen out. It stinks. I'm guessing that either Kinsey or Senator Fisher** are behind it. Some kind of political agenda. Not sure what it is yet."_

"I see." She thought a moment. She knew that she owed to O'Neill and the US military a debt of gratitude for saving her city during the siege. She took a deep breath and said, "Very well, I will agree to go to this meeting and with your ROE, but only on three conditions."

 _"Shoot."_

"First, I want to confirm that this meeting is just a formality. I will not discuss anything substantive without Doctor Weir present."

 _"That's the plan. Just a simple meet-and-greet. Carter will escort you as your liaison."_

"That was going to be my second condition. She is the only person on Earth that I trust right now."

 _"Good, we're on the same page. Carter, while you are in DC with her you are to stick to her like superglue. Don't let the Secret Service or anyone else take her out of your sight, not even for a second. If she goes to the john you go to the john with her, got that?"_

Carter acknowledged, "Yes, sir."

 _"And the third?"_

"I want to ask you for a small favor."

 _"A favor?"_

She told him. She knew that with the meeting being postponed until tomorrow she would have time to prepare herself.

 _"I love it. Should have thought of it myself. Later today I assume?"_

"Yes, after I am finished preparing. Oh, and I will do it alone."

 _"Alone?"_

The Guardian was adamant. O'Neill finally agreed.

* * *

After the phone call the Guardian grabbed a bunch of bananas and started peeling them.

She ate one banana, then another, then another. Then another and another. She kept forcing herself to eat them even though her stomach felt well past full.

And so the Guardian prepared. She used several other foodstuffs as well. Afterwards she collapsed on the couch and slept fitfully.

Several hours later the Guardian stood up rather dizzily, feeling feverish. She sensed the danger signals coming from her body regarding the energy overload. She inspected her open right palm, then she closed it into a fist.

Carter was worried, "You okay?"

The Guardian tried to reassure her, "I'm fine."

She picked up a small cylindrical locator beacon that Carter had given her and pushed the button on it.

There was a flash of light and she disappeared.

* * *

A woman in a white sundress appeared amidst a field of red wildflowers. The flowers spanned out seemingly everywhere, a sea of crimson that stretched as far as the eye could see. To the west the panorama of the Rocky Mountains rose up on the far horizon.

The woman walked out of the field of red wildflowers onto a gravel path, and from there she followed it to a nearby wooden ranch house. Instead of climbing the porch to knock on the front door of the house she jumped up, and in a single leap she had reached the rooftop for the second floor. Walking across the roof she approached a bedroom window that was on the third floor. She peered through the glass, then she teleported herself inside.

Laying on his bed on the third floor of the ranch house, an old man opened his rheumy eyes. Something had awakened him. He saw a blurry figure wearing a white dress, ethereal, her blond hair tied in a ponytail.

Chronologically speaking, the man was still age 54 but physiologically he was now 85, bedridden since the Wraith attack that had taken away almost all of his remaining lifespan. Before the attack Dillon Everett had routinely jogged a mile with his company of young Marines each morning, but now he couldn't even walk.

Because of his failing eyesight he was unable to clearly discern the figure that was now standing next to his bed.

He squinted, "Abigail? Is that you?"

He reached out with his frail hand. The Guardian bent down and grasped the outstretched hand. She decided not to disabuse him of his error.

"I'm here."

He smiled, ready to be escorted off this mortal coil and be taken to the next world.

"You came back for me."

"I had to come. To thank you."

"You liked your gift? The pony?"

"Oh yes. It was the most wonderful gift that I ever received. It made me so happy. Thank you so much."

"I knew you'd like it."

Six months later the leukemia had taken her. "You should have grown up." He started to weep.

"No, please, don't cry."

He wiped his face. "I'm ready. Let's go. Take me home."

"No, not yet."

She knelt before him, moving his quilt down and unbuttoning his nightshirt. She placed her open right palm on his chest, then she closed her eyes and forced all the energy out of her overloaded biopacks, her face grimacing.

* * *

Bobby was downstairs playing with his Lego set when he thought he heard a noise upstairs. Curious, he climbed up the narrow wooden steps to the second floor. Finding nothing amiss he climbed up to the next floor, creeping down the short hall to the open bedroom door. He carefully peered into his grandfather's bedroom.

There he saw a sight that he would never forget.

Everett's family had been told that the Colonel had suffered from some kind of unknown radiation poisoning during his final secret overseas mission, which had ravaged his body. But now Bobby saw that his grandfather was sitting up in bed, alert, looking years younger, perhaps around the physiological age of 65 or so. His hand was resting gently atop a head that was laying in his lap. There he saw a young blond woman with a ponytail, her eyes still closed. She was kneeling against the bed exhausted.

To Bobby the girl looked like his sister all grown up. He whispered, "Abby? Is that you?"

The girl raised her head in alarm. Having spotted the boy, she quickly forced herself to stand up from her kneeling position while reaching into the pocket of her dress to push a button on a small unseen cylindrical object. There was a flash of light and she disappeared.

Bobby stared in stunned amazement at what he had just seen. After a moment he tentatively entered the room, "Pappy?"

Meanwhile, Everett had swung himself around on the bed had placed his feet flat on the floor. He motioned his grandson to come over. "Bobby, can you please help me up?"

Bobby hesitated at first, then he slowly approached his grandfather. He held Dillon's outstretched hand and helped pull him up from his bed to a standing position.

The retired Marine colonel was a bit unsteady on his feet, having not used his legs in over three months. He carefully put one foot in front of the other as he took his first tentative step. He took another step, then a few more, smiling as his muscle memory returned.

Bobby was still holding his arm. He looked up questioningly at his grandfather, "Pappy, who was that? What happened to you?"

Dillon playfully tousled his grandson's hair.

"I think I was touched by an angel."

The boy looked at him in awe.

"Where is Carolyn?"

"Mom's out."

"Are the fire daisies blooming outside?" He wanted to see them again.

"Yeah."

"Good. Find your brother. Let's go see them."

* * *

Upon returning home and eating a whole fried chicken with a double serving of mashed potatoes, carrots, and cooked corn, the Guardian slept until the next morning.

The next day she was back at the kitchen table with Samantha Carter. After eating a breakfast repast consisting of fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, and orange juice (all of which the Guardian pronounced to be absolutely exquisite), Carter drove the Guardian to the local fashion mall to buy her a new outfit for her Presidential visit. She had explained that while her sundress was fine to wear around Colorado Springs as a tourist, she needed to wear something a bit more formal for a meeting with the President. She said that the Guardian's battlesuit - the garment that she normally donned for all of her official duties - was unsuitable because it would attract far too much attention if she wore it on Earth. The Guardian assented and said she would put the matter entirely in Carter's hands.

As the pair approached the main doors of the local fashion mall, the Guardian marveled at the mannequins posed inside the store windows, their elegant figures showing off the latest fashions in _haute couture_. She was amazed at the sheer number of different clothing stores that were inside the mall with their seemingly endless selections of popular fashion.

The pair returned home later that afternoon carrying several shopping bags that were emblazoned with emblems from a trio of designer boutiques. The Guardian protested that Carter had purchased far too much clothing for her, but Carter explained that on Earth it was customary for a woman to own several different outfits and that it was just fine. (Meanwhile she carefully saved the receipts to later hand to O'Neill.)

The Guardian was now wearing the business outfit that Carter had chosen for her. As she inspected herself using the floor length mirror in Carter's bedroom she said dubiously, "Sam, is this really what women wear on your world?"

"Hey, you look great."

The Guardian shifted her legs uncomfortably under a navy skirt with its straight cut, the hem reaching just below her knees. "My legs are completely constricted inside this ridiculously narrow cloth tube."

"It's called a pencil skirt; it's very professional. Look, I'm wearing one too, see?" Carter was wearing her formal US Air Force dress uniform.

"Sam, there is no way I can move in this skirt. The heels are hurting my ankles, the blouse makes my back itch, and the suit top feels like a straight-jacket around my shoulders. I can't fight in this at all."

"Sara, relax. It's not for combat."

"I hate it; explain to me again why I need to wear this thing?"

"You need it to blend in."

"Blend in?"

"I'm trying to make you look like a typical DC attorney or DC lobbyist. I don't want anyone to give you a second glance."

The Guardian turned to face Carter wearing her business power suit. "So am I forgettable now?"

Carter gave her a careful appraisal. The outfit was passable but she felt that the Guardian's face still drew too much attention. "Hmm, let me fix you up a bit." She undid the Guardian's ponytail, rewrapping her hair into a tight bun. Carter then went to a drawer and pulled out a small clamshell case, opening it to remove a pair of ugly black-rimmed eyeglasses. She slipped them on the Guardian's face. "I used to wear these when I first joined the Air Force, back before I had Lasik. Can you see okay?"

The Guardian blinked a few times, then she looked around the room. "My eyes are adapting satisfactorily."

Carter inspected her face closely. The black eyeglasses helped hide the Guardian's high cheekbones and obscure her blue gold-flecked eyes. She nodded with approval, "That works. Now you're ready."

Carter checked her wristwatch. It was 16:30, just over an hour until the scheduled meeting with the President. "We need to leave soon to get there and go through security on time." She handed the Guardian the small cylindrical locator beacon, keeping the other one for herself.

The Guardian was quietly practicing her greeting, mumbling to herself, "Hello.. It is an honor.. Thank you very much.. Hello.. It is an honor.. Thank you very much.."

"Ready?"

"Not really. But let's go anyway."

"Okay. Three.. two.. one." They simultaneously pressed the red buttons on their locator beacons and they both disappeared.

* * *

The two women materialized inside a small and empty nondescript toolshed that was on the grounds of Lafayette Park, which was across the street from the White House. It was the standard beamdown point. They did not beam directly into the White House because it was protected with hidden anti-beaming technology (as were the SGC and other critical US government facilities), and also because they needed to walk through regular WH security to avoid the awkward situation of outside witnesses remembering a visitor who had gone into the Oval Office without any requisite entry in the WH visitor log.

Carter checked the shed's peephole, then she opened the door and the pair headed out to the street. A black limo was waiting for them. They climbed inside the back. The limo promptly drove off and headed for East Executive Avenue and the White House security side entrance.

Carter turned to check on the Guardian, worried that DC's traffic would probably terrify her.

"Sara, you okay over there?"

She seemed oddly calm as she stared straight ahead. She was not gazing out the window to gawk at the heavy DC traffic like Carter had expected. "Yes, everything is fine." She sounded distracted, as if she was listening to something.

The limo drove up to the White House security entrance. Then the limo drove past it.

Carter leaned forward to address the driver, "Hey, you missed the turn."

The driver replied, "Colonel, I am sorry, but my instructions are to first take you to the Naval Observatory."

Carter was surprised, "The Observatory?"

"Yes ma'am. The Vice President would like to meet you first. It will only take a few minutes. You won't be late."

Carter sat back in her seat feeling nonplussed. She crossed her arms, "Jack was right, it's political."

She noticed that the Guardian was still oddly quiet. The limo turned left onto Massachusetts Avenue and headed for the USNO compound two miles away.

The Guardian was looking intently at the Observatory building as the limo stopped in front of the main entrance. The driver got out and helpfully opened the back door for the two visitors. As they exited the limo Carter noticed that the Guardian was still staring hard at the building, and she was still oddly quiet.

Two men in dark suits and sunglasses came up to greet them. The first man said, "Ladies, if you will follow me please?" The second man discreetly moved in behind them.

{ Sam, stay close to me. }

Carter whispered, "Sara, relax, it's fine. This is only a Secret Service detail. They're trained to protect the Vice President."

{ I know. Just stay close. }

They were escorted up to a large private office on the second floor. The office was filled with expensive art and furniture: original oil paintings, sculpted busts, a pair of mahogany bookcases (including one holding a large aquarium), some ornately carved chairs, and a pair of overstuffed luxury sofas.

As they entered the office the Guardian saw Vice President Robert Kinsey standing alone behind an ornate wooden desk. He was facing away from them, gazing idly out the Observatory window. He turned and greeted the Guardian warmly, ordering the SS detail to wait outside.

He approached and offered his hand, which the Guardian shook awkwardly. He beamed, "Well, well, here you are. Welcome to Earth. I am so pleased to have this opportunity to meet you. Would you like something to drink?"

"No."

He smiled at her curt response. "I was told you were direct. I like that." He escorted the Guardian to a particular spot in front of his desk, then he walked behind it and and sat down while pouring himself a glass of brandy. He sipped it. Meanwhile Carter stayed close to the Guardian.

He said amiably, "Let's chat a moment, shall we?" He glanced at Carter, "Colonel, you can wait outside."

The Guardian responded brusquely, "No, she stays here."

"My, you are indeed curt," Kinsey shrugged, "Well, it doesn't matter if she stays or not."

{ Sam, move away from me. Sit on the couch. } She did.

Kinsey clasped his hands together on his desk as he got down to business. "This meeting is unofficial. You see, before you go up, we would like to learn a bit more about you first. About your kind."

"Such as?"

"We know that you are the last Ancient. However, even after all this time we still don't know much about you or your people. Well, other than the technology that your people left behind for us to find, of course."

The Guardian crossed her arms. "You are thieves, stealing from us."

Kinsey unclasped his hands. In doing so he discreetly moved one hand under his desk. He fingered a hidden button. Meanwhile he replied affably, "Not stealing, merely scavenging. Or to put it more charitably, we are simply making use of the gifts that you had so graciously left behind for us."

"You are a vulture."

Carter whispered from the sofa, "Sara, what are you saying? That's the Vice President!"

"No, he is a Goa'uld." { Stay on the couch. }

Kinsey's eyes flashed white. Carter was aghast.

The man said in a reverberating voice, "That was swift. You can detect us so easily?"

The Guardian scowled, "I sensed you before I had entered the building."

"You did? Most impressive."

She spat back, "You and your kind are disgusting."

Kinsey said churlishly, "Really now, such rudeness."

The Guardian lectured him, "You are a perversion. A mental symbiosis is supposed to be the mutually beneficial union between two sentient beings, the joyful sharing of two minds in an intimate mental relationship. It ought be a beautiful union that is even closer than the mental intimacy that I share with my husband, such as what the Tok'ra share, a joyful relationship between the symbiont and its volunteer host. But your kind have twisted it and turned it into a mockery of that union, slavery by fascists, basically a form of mind rape. I sense inside you the real Robert Kinsey, how you subjugated him, how he feels trapped inside, terrified. Fortunately it appears that your forced symbiosis with him has happened rather recently so it can be undone without serious harm to him."

The Goa'uld ignored her and instead announced, "You will serve us. You should be honored to be so chosen, another fine gift that we will take from the _Anquietas_." He pressed the hidden button.

Nothing happened.

His pressed the button again. He frowned and looked under his desk.

The Guardian pinched her nose, "I've had enough of this charade." She removed her fake black eyeglasses and undid her hair bun, shaking her blond locks free. As she did so she walked off the small mark on the floor that had indicated the center of the hidden ring teleportation circle where Kinsey had carefully escorted her.

She placed her palms flat on his desk, leaned in, and stared into his defiant eyes. "I am totally fed up with your kind. First you try to blow up my city, then my vacation gets wrecked, and now you try to kidnap me? You obviously don't know much about me. You think you are gods? You are nothing. My people also once pretended to be gods in their arrogance, long ago, but compared to them you are less than a bad farce."

She stood up straight. "Earth is not under my jurisdiction, so I am not supposed to use my powers while I am here except in self-defense. But I am so fed up with you and your kind right now that I've decided that I am going to kick your asses off this planet anyway."

In response Kinsey opened a desk drawer and quickly pulled out a Zat gun. He fired it, hitting her at point blank range, but a small shimmering green disc of energy appeared in front of the Guardian where he was aiming and the shot bounced off it harmlessly.

"This is pointless and you are boring me." The Guardian commanded, "Go to sleep," causing Kinsey to collapse into his chair as he became unconscious. A second later there was a flash of light and a silvery snake appeared in her hands. She walked over to the fish aquarium, lifted the lid, and unceremoniously dumped the writhing snake into it. She wiped her wet hands off using her dress skirt like a towel.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service detail that had been waiting outside in the hallway began pounding on the locked office door. "Sir, are you all right? We heard a noise. Please open up."

Carter sighed to herself, s _o much for staying out of tomorrow's newspaper._ She pulled out her Asgard teleporter beacon and watched the Guardian also take hers out. Carter pushed its button, expecting the Guardian to do the same, but instead the Guardian tossed her own beacon device at her. Carter caught it reflexively with her other hand. While she was holding both beacons she started to ask, "Sara, what the heck are you doing..?" when she disappeared in a flash of light.

The urgent door-pounding increased. The Guardian bent down and grabbed the hem of her skirt with both hands and tore a slit on the side with the rip going all the way up to her hip, kicking off her dress shoes as she did so.

The Secret Service agents began to shoot at the door lock as the Guardian calmly walked back to the small mark on the floor where the teleportation rings were hidden. She stood on the mark and mentally pushed the secret button that was under Kinsey's desk. The teleportation rings rose up and she disappeared.

As soon as the rings finished retracting themselves back down under the floor, the heavy door was smashed open and several men in black suits tumbled inside the office with their guns drawn. A pair of agents immediately ran over to the Vice President and checked his vital signs, relieved to find him breathing with no obvious sign of injury. The other agents canvassed the now empty room.

One of the agents happened to look in the fish aquarium where he spotted a strange silvery snake-like creature agitatedly swimming inside. The other agents scratched their heads in wonder as they all peered at it, all except for one, the only agent in the room who had SGC clearance - who promptly used his cell phone to dial a secret phone number.

He heard a beep, then he whispered into his cell phone, "Code Orange, these coordinates. Message to Silver Wolf: Subject is missing, possibly abducted."

Somewhere deep inside the Pentagon a certain three star general cursed loudly. The general pulled out a small cylindrical object and disappeared from his private office.

* * *

Stargate Command was on high alert when General O'Neill strode with purpose into the SGC conference room. SG-1 was already assembled and seated with General Hank Landry.

As he sat down at the conference table he asked, "Hank, what's our status?"

General Landry was still busy on the phone. He hung up and reported, "Sir, the base is on full alert. Tactical teams are being assembled. NORAD reports no alien spacecraft activity in near Earth orbit."

"You sent an SG team to the USNO for forensics?"

"Yes sir, SG-4 is already at the scene. They found a Goa'uld transporter ring that was hidden in the floor of Kinsey's office. They just finished extracting its data log and they confirmed that it was used to transport someone off-world within the past hour."

Cameron Mitchell shook his head, "The Goa'uld kidnapped an Ancient. That is not good."

O'Neill opened his data tablet and started reading the incoming alerts. "No, it isn't."

He addressed the members of SG-1, "Basically the Goa'uld stole a WMD from us. We need to get it back. The Joint Chiefs have moved us up to DEFCON 3."

Vala was confused, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what 'WMD' means?"

Mitchell said ruefully, "It means the Goa'uld now have a walking tactical nuclear weapon in their possession."

"Really? Ah, I can see why that is not good."

Daniel Jackson wondered, "I can't believe the Goa'uld grabbed an Ancient. That's pretty audacious even for them."

O'Nell asked Landry, "How is the search going?"

Landry checked his own tablet. "We haven't detected any hyperspace jumps out of the system so she must still be up there somewhere. The _Odyssey_ has moved down from geosynchronous orbit to low Earth orbit to scan for nearby cloaked Goa'uld ships. The _Daedalus_ has been ordered to turn around and is coming back here ASAP, about 40 hours out. It will provide backup for _Odyssey_ and assist in the LEO scan."

O'Neill looked at his tablet. "The President asked the Joint Chiefs if we should go to DEFCON 2. I'm recommending that we hold off unless we see signs of hostile action."

Vala wondered, "All this activity for one person?"

Teal'c replied, "The Ancients were once worshipped as gods. It is said that there is no limit to their power."

Vala was skeptical, "Yeah, but what can this woman actually do? I heard a bunch of rumors about her, but there's nothing specific."

Jackson explained, "She's an Ancient, the last one as far as we know. Furthermore she's locked in a pre-Ascendant state. There are a lot of myths and stories about them in that state. Some of those powers are pretty amazing. Remember Anubis?"

"But Daniel, you were that way too once, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't remember any of it."

At that moment Samantha Carter walked in carrying a white duffel bag. "Sorry I'm late. I had to run back to my place to get Sara's stuff."

Jackson greeted her then he turned back to Vala, "The point is, I'm not sure what the Guardian's actual capabilities are. I sent her a list of written questions but she didn't answer a lot of them. She skipped most of the personal ones about herself and her abilities, which I assume she did for security reasons."

Vala asked Carter, "You called her 'Sara' just now. I take it that you are on a first name basis with her?"

"Yeah, she's been staying at my place this week. We're friends. I like her."

"You've seen her? So what kind of magic hocus pocus have you seen her actually do?"

"Well, for starters she talked to my cat.."

"What?"

O'Neill spoke up. "Vala, I'm sorry, but that information is classified."

"Classified?"

Mitchell looked around the table, "You mean classified higher than even us?"

"Sorry. I received an eyes-only dossier on her written by Colonel Sheppard that lays it all out: her abilities, her powers, her weaknesses, her vulnerabilities, everything. Including ways to neutralize her should it become necessary."

Mitchell translated. "'Neutralize'? You mean ways to kill her."

O'Neill said levelly, "Like I said, it's eyes-only. The classification level of that dossier is so high that I haven't even invented a name for it yet. Only two people in the Milky Way galaxy have seen a copy, and both of them are in this room." He looked at Landry. "I've since ordered both copies destroyed, and it's a damn good thing I did given how badly the Goa'uld have compromised our security."

Mitchell asked, "How much do the Goa'uld know about her?"

"Less than we do, or maybe more.. we just don't know."

Jackson ruminated, "The Goa'uld have been searching through Ancient ruins for millennia, stealing their secrets and technology for themselves. It's possible that they might have found an Ancient artifact that they think they can use to control her."

O'Neill sighed, "Daniel, you are really depressing me you know that? But you're right, we have to assume the worst case. Gawd, this is already such a mess. The Goa'uld compromised SGC security, penetrated the Executive Branch..."

Sergeant Walter Harriman ran in with his headset, "Sirs, NORAD reports that an Al'kesh spacecraft is heading this way. It just decloaked, ten minutes out."

Landry groused, "Dammit. Sound general quarters and seal the base." Walter spoke into his headset and klaxons started blaring.

Walter paused and listened to his headset. "Sir, NORAD is receiving an incoming transmission from the Al'kesh." He listened again. "Uh, General O'Neill, sir, they are asking to speak with you. Directly."

O'Neill tilted his head, "Oh, are they, now? Can you put it on speaker in here?"

"One moment."

 _"Hello? General O'Neill?"_

O'Neill stood up. "Sara, is that you?"

 _"Hi Jack. Do you like my new toy?"_

O'Neill was visibly annoyed. "Sara, what part of 'keep a low profile' did you not understand?"

 _"I'm sorry, but your Vice President tried to kidnap me and after that things kind of went off script. I took the liberty of removing the snake from his head. Maybe I shouldn't have? I assume you guys are making up a suitable cover story."_

"Kinsey was taken by ambulance to the Bethesda Naval Hospital. The doctors say he should fully recover. The press are being told that he suffered a temporary stroke."

 _"I'm glad he's okay. By the way, I had an interesting conversation with the commander of the Al'kesh, a Goa'uld by the name of Osiris. You ever heard of him?"_

The members of the SG-1 team all reacted to that name, Daniel Jackson particularly so.

Jackson said quickly, "Be careful, Osiris is a dangerous System Lord."

 _"I already took care of him. I must say, I think the Goa'uld are pretty weak compared to the Wraith. Kind of pathetic in my opinion. I can't believe they actually claimed to be gods. Anyway, I had a nice chat with Osiris. I did a full mind probe actually. He tried to fight it and he's gone now, sorry."_

O'Neill said, "Don't be. You did Earth a favor getting rid of him. What did he say?"

 _"He told me a couple of interesting things. First, he said that the Goa'uld captured the Trust and were running it, and I got from him the names of all their operatives within the US government, including the US military and the SGC. I'm sending you the list on a side channel. If it's any consolation the list was shorter than I expected._ _Kinsey you already know about._ _"_

O'Neill felt rather chagrinned about the penetration of the government that happened under his watch, "Hoo boy, that's embarrassing. Thank you. And the second thing?"

 _"I found out that the Goa'uld made a non-aggression pact with the Ori to divide up the Milky Way. The Goa'uld section included Earth."_

O'Neill sat up straight, "What?"

 _"Jack, you should have known. It's obvious that something or someone is protecting Earth from the Ori. Earth is by far the most heavily populated human planet in your galaxy, and the Ori feed on human psychic energy much like the way the Wraith feed on their biological energy. So why didn't they simply come here first thing? The Asgard are gone and no longer protect your planet, so you ought to have realized that something or someone was keeping them from coming here."_

Mitchell groused, "That pact won't stop them for long."

Teal'c nodded, "Indeed. The Ori will break the agreement as soon as it is opportune for them to do so."

O'Neill did a facepalm, "This is just great."

 _"With the Goa'uld gone from your world you'll need to be ready. Anyway, to be honest, I don't like my new flying toy very much. The controls require a primitive tactile interface, the shields are weak, the weapons are poor, and the cloak doesn't even try to hide the ship's thermal signature - it lights up like a beacon in the infrared. I'm bringing in this craft for a landing and you can have it. You can have all the Jaffa on board too."_

Landry whispered to O'Neill, "Cheyenne Mountain doesn't have the facilities for landing something that big, and some of the personnel outside aren't cleared to see alien craft."

O'Neill agreed, "Sara, don't land that thing here. Take it to Area 51. Do you know where that is?"

 _"Area 51 is about the worst kept secret in your military. I'm changing course; re-engaging the cloak."_

Teal'c asked, "Guardian, please tell me, what of the Jaffa on board? Were any of them harmed?"

 _"No, they're all fine. I put them in the brig. By the way, somebody was already inside. I let him out, a human."_

O'Neill asked, "A human was already in the brig? Who was it?"

 _"An interesting gentleman. He said he's originally from Earth. I checked him and discovered he's a spy. He's a good one too, probably one of your best. He said that he allowed himself to be captured by the Goa'uld so that he could hitch a ride back to Earth. After I let him out of the brig we chatted a bit on the way down here. I like him. Oh, h_ _e claims to be a personal friend of yours."_

O'Neill looked up at the audio speakers, "Sara, I have no idea who you are talking about."

A male voice said, _"Hi Jack. It's been a while. Miss me?"_

O'Neill's eyes widened, then he slowly stood up not believing his ears. "Harry? Is that you?"

 _"In the flesh, Jack."_

O'Neill started to sputter, "Harry, Harry Maybourne? Why you.. you.. lousy rotten.." He leaned forward. "Sara, he's a traitor! Don't listen to him!"

 _"Sorry, Jack. I already hired him as my new spy chief for security operations in the Pegasus Galaxy."_

O'Neill said a flat, "What."

 _"Harry Maybourne will be running my new spy network, to gather intelligence and run counter-espionage operations against the Wraith and their network of Wraith worshippers."_

Harry said excitedly, _"Jack, it's such a great gig. I was tired of being King Arkhan. The prophecies on the pillars had ended so my run was over anyway. The final prediction on the pillar stated that I would go to Terra and meet the last Lantean in the galaxy and serve her, so..."_

The Guardian sounded ecstatic, _"He showed me some photos of the pillars. I recognized the signature. Jack, it was my father! He left a time jumper behind on Arkhan's World, you remember that***? He arranged it! He arranged all this for me!"_

Maybourne chimed in, _"I knew the pillars' predictions always came true, so I turned myself over to the local Goa'uld honcho, saying that I'd reveal all my hidden secrets about the SGC program to their leader on Earth, and here I am."_

O'Neill growled, "Harry, I don't care what wacky prophesies brought you back to Earth. As far as I'm concerned you're a scumbag." He was getting agitated, "You bastard, you shot me in the back!"

" _Now Jack, I told you, that was Colonel Simmons who shot you, not me."_

"Right. Like I would believe *anything* you say."

The Guardian spoke up, _"Jack, he's telling the truth. I did a full mind scan on him."_

"I bet. Look, he only insisted on that mind scan because the guy is a psychopathic liar who knows how to beat lie detectors. He's done it a dozen times. He's like that George Costanza guy on _Seinfeld_ , 'It's not a lie if you really believe it.' That's how he beats them. You can't trust him!"

 _"Mind scans don't work that way. I scanned him carefully at level 9. He has higher loyalties. I do trust him."_

 _"Jack, she's right about my having higher loyalties. I admit that those loyalties were misplaced at first, but when I played at being king I discovered that I was never more satisfied than when I was helping that little feudal society, teaching them irrigation, crop rotation, saving them from the Goa'uld, giving them better lives. I was doing the right thing, helping others, being loyal to a higher cause. It's hard to explain how good it felt. Now I have a chance to help save a whole galaxy, a whole galaxy! What can be better than that?"_

 _"I tested him. With his mental fortitude he is capable of eluding mental detection even by a Wraith commander. I need that. I need him."_

Jack said dismissively, "Fine. Sara, you can keep him. Take the bastard and good riddance. Just get him the hell out of my galaxy."

 _"Thank you. I presume that I can escort him back through the gate to Pegasus without you trying to arrest him?"_

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just go."

 _"Excellent. I was worried that I was going to need to give him diplomatic immunity so I could safely take him through the gate, but I guess I don't have to now."_

"Diplomatic immunity? You've been hanging around Elizabeth Weir way too much."

 _"I try to learn. I'm learning a lot from you too, and from Sam, from Rodney, John Sheppard, everyone I can. I have a feeling I am going to be learning a lot from Harry Maybourne too. Oh, by the way, please tell don't tell Area 51 I'm coming."_

"Huh? Why not?"

 _"Haven't you read the list I transmitted to you yet?"_

O'Neill sat back down and looked at his tablet. He read the list of names. "Oh crud."

Landry read his own tablet. "I see."

It explained how Osiris had escaped from his fish tank in Area 51. It also explained how Baal had been controlling everything the whole time.

Maybourne chuckled, _"I can't believe that Baal was in a locked cell inside Area 51_ _running the whole show right under your nose. Jack, your OPSEC is crap. You want to hire me temporarily as your security advisor?"_

"Harry, shut up."

Landry ignored the exchange, "Sir, you are the only one here who has the authority to relieve General Collins of his command." O'Neill nodded and stood up.

Landry also stood up as he addressed SG-1, "Saddle up and go with him. I'll arrange for transport."

Everyone got up and the meeting was adjourned.

* * *

General Collins was standing in the main operations center at the Groom Lake Air Force Base in Nevada. He was looking out the window at the tarmac where an Al'kesh spacecraft had just materialized without any warning.

Rodney McKay was standing alongside him. "Huh, you don't see that every day."

{ Rodney, are you okay? }

{ Hi Kit. I'm fine. }

{ Like my new toy? }

{ Yeah, heh. }

He smiled and whispered to himself, "That's my girl."

The general must have heard him. "I, uh, I need to leave." He started to head for the exit.

The Guardian appeared in full battle gear with her hood up, blocking his path. She was frowning at him. The general collapsed in a heap, unconscious. At the same moment SG-1 rounded the corner with their P90 weapons drawn.

General O'Neill came in close behind. He barked an order at the startled MPs to stand down, which they did. He stood over the unconscious general and said dryly, "General William Harold Collins, as your superior officer I am hereby relieving you of your command of this facility on the grounds that you have a .." He paused when he saw that the Guardian was already holding it in her hands, ".. correction, that you had a snake in your head."

The Guardian then unceremoniously handed the writhing creature to Teal'c, who raised an eyebrow. She pulled off her protective hood, then she bent over and picked up her white duffel bag. She grabbed McKay by the elbow, pulling him away from the others.

"Hey.."

She gritted her teeth and declared, "Rodney, we are going on vacation. Right now."

"But I'm not.."

"Right. Now."

And that was that.

* * *

McKay and the Guardian were laying together at the beach. The were under a large beach umbrella in long chairs drinking Mai Tai cocktails. No one else was around.

McKay sighed as he looked out upon the pristine white sands and palm trees that ran along the shoreline, "This is so perfect."

"Yes, it is." The Guardian sipped her own drink then closed her eyes under the bright sun.

He turned and admired her white bikini, "That looks hot."

"Thank you. I don't feel chilly wearing it at all." He thought she might have misunderstood him.

A moment passed. Her eyes stayed closed, "Nobody is here if you'd like to inspect it more closely." Apparently she did understand him.

He caught the implication. He was tempted, but instead he sipped his drink, "I only wish this was real."

She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "This is our first shared lucid dream with you in control. You're doing really well." Originally she was worried that it might not even be possible, but he had successfully instantiated the dream and had brought her inside his own make-believe world.

"I am so proud of you, my furry Pooh Bear." She reached over and stroked his hairy chest.

Despite her adoration he still felt guilty. He sat up, "Kit, look, I'm still really sorry about our working through the whole vacation. We didn't get a moment to ourselves."

"Nonsense. With the Goa'uld operations on Earth ended the Chair is now critical to Earth's ongoing space defense. Besides, we got to work together on getting it functional again. That was fun too. I enjoyed it."

He laid back down and closed his eyes, pleased with himself. "Yeah."

The best part was when Sam Carter had watched the loving couple when they were reunited together at Area 51, when he had given her a smug look of triumph. _Finally, I win!_

"No you haven't." A blond woman was laying in a beach chair on the other side of McKay.

The Guardian saw that Carter was now laying in her own beach chair wearing a yellow bikini.

The woman in white sat up sharply, "MEREDITH RODNEY MCKAY!"

He sat up in alarm. _Uh oh._

Carter rolled serenely off her beach chair as she moved in behind McKay, wrapping herself around him, pressing herself into his back. She looked jealously over at the Guardian while holding him possessively from behind, "Go away. He's mine."

The Guardian glared like she was ready to kill her husband.

 _I hate my subconscious so much._

* * *

McKay got dressed and left for the lab. The Guardian said she had an errand and would soon catch up.

Now alone in the suite, she studied herself in the mirror.

She imagined that she was looking at her enemy. When the hybrid finally showed itself she intended to be ready. All her plans were now falling into place: Colonel Sheppard's dossier on how to kill it, Doctor Beckett's research on bioweapons to use against it, and now with Harry Maybourne she had the foundation of a strong counter-intelligence network.

She would cheat.

She would fight dirty.

She would use every weapon at her disposal.

She watched herself in the mirror.

Her eyes flashed white.

"Cool."

She made a quick stop at the North Tower for a deposit then headed out.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* Ronimun is Numinor spelled backwards. (Numinor was the island kingdom in _The Lord of the Rings_ that sank beneath the waves.)

** Senator Fisher is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which controls SGC funding (see SG-1 Season 9 Episode 4).

*** See SG-1 Season 8 Episode 13, "It's Good to Be King."


	17. Chapter 17: The Lady Protector (Part 1)

**Chapter 17: The Lady Protector (Part 1)**

The Lord Protector sat on the Chair. It was mounted on a raised platform in the center of a lavishly decorated throne room within the Tower. A foppish prince with a shock of red hair stood near his right hand, and a pretty blond princess with a vapid expression on her face stood by his left. Various other nobles were also in attendance.

Standing in front of the Lord Protector was a strange visitor. He wore only a simple black military uniform that stood out in stark contrast to the colorful and richly elaborate apparel of the other court attendees.

The military visitor was disarmed. He was also smiling.

The Lord Protector was not. He was scowling. He groused to his minions, "What's taking so long?"

The Lord Protector motioned with his eyes at the tall mahogany double-doors at the end of the large hall. An official wearing a Napoleonic era uniform with large brass buttons snapped to attention and immediately ran out of the room through a small side door that was hidden behind a red velvet curtain.

While everyone waited, the prince, named Tavius, smirked as he asked the visitor off-handedly, "Colonel, I trust you slept well last night?"

The question caught Sheppard off guard. "Huh? Oh, uh, yes, I did, thanks for asking." He smiled a bit sheepishly.

It was John Sheppard's second day as a 'guest' of the Lord Protector. The visitor with the unkempt hair had spent the previous night in a luxuriantly furnished bedroom that was festooned with red velvet curtains and that had featured a huge hand carved four-poster bed with a velvet awning on top.

Sheppard was in fact rather tired. It was because he did not get much sleep last night.

The princess also looked tired. She did not get much sleep either.

A bald man entered the throne room through the side door. He looked flustered as he approached the Chair. The Lord Protector said testily, "Well, Chamberlain?"

Otho bent over and whispered, "I checked and it's true. She is absolutely pure." He secretly revealed the handheld Lantean bioscanner device that was hidden in his jerkin vest.

The Lord Protector's eyes lit up. He even managed to crack a rare smile. He rubbed his hands together gleefully, "Well, well. Excellent. By all means, bring her in."

Otho motioned to the Constable, who pulled open the tall mahogany doors and stood aside. The Constable turned and addressed everyone in a loud voice, "Hear ye, hear ye! All present shall recognize the Duchess of the Misty Isles, the Queen of Ronimun, the Sovereign of Tahiti Beyond the Sea, the Lady Protector!"

A woman wearing white with a long silken robe lined with carmine fur strode in to the throne room of the Lord Protector. Her golden hair was elegantly coiffed with _oujo_ curls, and on her brow was set a crown of gold.

She walked magisterially across the hall into the presence of the Lord Protector. She did not bow. She raised a hand in greeting and said pleasantly, "Hail and well met. I bring greetings to you from beyond the stars."

For the first time in living memory the Lord Protector actually stood up to welcome a visitor. It was obvious that his politeness did not come naturally to him, for he said a bit stiffly, "Yes, well, greetings and welcome." He paused, "Let's see, how should I address you?"

The woman said simply, "Lady Protector is appropriate."

He nodded in agreement, "Of course. Lady Protector, welcome to the Tower." He sat down in the Chair again. The he realized something. He barked at the Constable, "You! Don't just stand there, you drooling cretin. Go fetch a chair for the Lady Protector to sit!" The Constable stumbled and ran out.

The Lord Protector turned and asked, "Lady, where is your retinue of attendees? I see only this one military officer."

"I left them behind in the village. The Colonel is all the protection I need in your presence, Lord."

"I see."

The Constable entered carrying a heavy stuffed armchair. Meanwhile the Lady Protector was looking placidly around the room at the velvet wall hangings, the lit golden candelabras, the oil portraits, the mounted suits of armor, and the fur-skinned rugs that were scattered about the floor. She idly removed a white glove as she said indifferently, "The way you have decorated your Tower is rather quaint."

"So, you have a Tower as well?"

"Of course. May I have a closer look at your Chair?"

Before the Lord Protector could reply she leaned forward and lightly touched one of the blue gel pads with her ungloved finger. Three data display windows suddenly popped up in the air in front of them. There were audible gasps in the room. She withdrew her finger and the displays disappeared. "Yes, a quaint design." She sat down in the offered armchair.

To his credit the Lord Protector managed to control his anger. It was because he realized that she was merely proving her bona fides to him, that she could control the Chair as well as he could, and very probably far better with her 100% pure bloodline. Instead he said simply, "Tell me, why have you come here?"

The Lady Protector looked at her fingernails. "Word reached my ears of your realm. When I heard that another Tower with another Protector existed, it piqued my curiosity. I had thought our realm's Tower was the only one left in the galaxy."

"So did I. This is pleasant surprise. Two Towers, how remarkable."

"I am also interested in trade, exchange of goods, and perhaps even a mutual defense treaty."

"Ah, yes. I think we can find ways to mutually benefit each other. Greatly in fact."

She caught his emphasis on the word, 'Greatly'. She noticed that the prince, Tavius, was looking at her with leering eyes. She was not wearing her limiter, and the wave of intense lust that she sensed from him threw her off balance for a moment.

Tavius suddenly asked, "Are you married?"

The Lord Protector whirled and snapped at him, "Be quiet! Know your place!"

Tavius bowed deeply, "I sincerely apologize, my Lord."

The Lady Protector responded with a deprecating smile, "It's quite all right. As a matter of fact.."

Colonel Sheppard spoke up, "As a matter of fact she isn't."

Tavius spoke up again, "Then you are her Consort?"

Sheppard smiled and said, "I am."

The Lord Protector remained quiet. He did not admonish his son a second time. Instead his mental gears were turning.

{ John, what are you doing? }

{ Genie, I'm improvising. Just play along. }

The Lady Protector regained her composure, then she decided to change the subject. "I have heard that your Tower has successfully defended and protected your people from the Wraith for generations. Is this true?"

The Lord Protector smiled again, "Indeed it is true. No Wraith have come here for hundreds of years."

"I am impressed. Lord Protector, you and your predecessors have served your people well."

The Lord Protector's eyes narrowed. "Serve my people? I serve no one."

"But we do serve them. After all, it is the sworn duty of a Protector to defend their people from the Wraith. It is why we were given the title 'Protector' and why the Chair was given to us by the Ancestors."

The Lord Protector muttered, "I suppose that is true.."

"You and I are servants of the people in our role as their Protectors." She smiled at him, "Don't you agree?"

He waved her off dismissively, "Enough of this talk." He glanced knowingly at Tavius and Otho. All three men turned their eyes on the unmarried Protector. From their gazes Genie felt like a prey animal in front of three predators.

The Lord Protector said happily, "My Lady, I am so glad you are here. This is an auspicious occasion. We must have a feast in honor of your visit."

Genie dropped her imperious act. Her mouth began to water. She said quietly, "A feast..?"

"Yes. We shall slay the fatted calf, pick the best fruit from the ganto trees. Tonight we feast!"

She stared off into space as she licked her lips. "A feast.."

Meanwhile Sheppard rolled his eyes and sighed quietly to himself.

* * *

That night the Lady Protector and Colonel Sheppard were escorted by the head maid to their bed chambers. She showed them the same luxurious suite that Sheppard had used the night before.

The Lady Protector stopped when she realized they were supposed to share a room. "Wait.."

The head maid bowed, "For you and your Consort. If you desire an even larger bed, one can of course be provided."

Before Genie could object Sheppard spoke up, "This will do very nicely, thank you." He then added quietly, "Please make sure that we have complete privacy tonight." Sheppard doubted that Mara would attempt another visit, but he wanted to be sure.

The maid bowed again, "I assure you that you will have absolute privacy with your Lady. Please enjoy." She left.

Sheppard waited a moment. { Anybody eavesdropping? }

{ I'm scanning. Nobody is near. I think we have the whole floor to ourselves. }

{ Huh. So we really do have privacy. I wonder why, heh. }

The Guardian was angry. She ripped off her gaudy crown and pulled off her fake royal robe and tossed it aside. "I don't find this very funny, John!"

"Oh come on, Genie, laugh a little, will yah? You gotta admit this whole thing is pretty silly."

She muttered, "Why did I let Weir talk me into this.."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to save these people. Elizabeth only scripted it for you. You did great out there. Your Lady Protector schtick was perfect. Even your ad-libs were great."

When he had heard one of her many royal titles announced as 'The Sovereign of Tahiti Beyond the Sea', Sheppard had nearly lost it. He had to bite his lip to stifle a giggle fit.

She harrumphed at him.

"Genie, you were having fun too. I could tell."

"Okay, maybe I was having fun a little. Until you told them I wasn't married. Dang it, John!"

"Well.."

"Why in the world did you tell them that?"

"It just hit me."

"But why? You saw the way they leered at me afterwards. It was like I was a side of beef!"

"Sorry, I hadda do it."

"You didn't see the fantasies that I saw, the ones that Tavius kept running in his head." She wrapped her arms around herself, "At least his fantasies were conventional."

"Nothing freaky or sadistic?"

"No. Just the usual.. you know.."

"Good. I'm glad to know he's not a sick-o. He's not the real threat anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Otho is the one we gotta be careful of."

"We do. John, someone is poisoning the Lord Protector."

That surprised him. "Really? You could tell he was being poisoned with your powers?"

"No, I didn't need my powers. Did you see his fingernails?"

"What about them?"

"I spotted a gray band extruding from the base of each fingernail, about half a centimeter. Didn't you notice it?"

"You were closer to him than I was. Wait, a gray band?" He realized what it meant. "Oh crap."

"Yes. Heavy metal poisoning. Probably in his food."

"Mercury I bet."

"Most likely."

Mercury was a liquid at room temperature. "Yeah, you don't want it crunching in his teeth." Sheppard thought a moment. "If it's extruding out of his fingernails that means it's being administered slowly."

"Yes, over weeks or months. He is deathly ill now. He's hiding it."

"Hoo boy. You think you can cure him with your powers?"

Genie started to think, "Hmm, extracting the mercury should be simple. It is a liquid metal like naquadah so it should be easy for me to isolate and teleport out of his system."

"Good."

"Healing the cellular damage will be far more difficult. It might already be too late."

"And it'll drain your biopacks."

"Yes, probably completely."

"Well, I saw you pig out at that feast tonight. You were stuffing your face just like the rest of 'em. It was pretty funny to watch. Your biopacks are full, right?"

"Overfull. I overate." She patted her belly. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. It was just so good. What was that fruit, the orange and black striped one?"

"Tavius told me that was ganto fruit. Tasted like a really good tangerine. Nice citrusy flavor."

"Oh yes, it was incredible. We have to get seeds for planting it. Wait, that was citrus? I didn't know."

"Yep, it was citrus. Rodney's bane. Genie, don't kiss him after eating that, heh."

She waved him off. "Oh, I think Rodney is just imagining things with his citrus allergy."

"Really?"

"He grew out of it since childhood. It's just a phobia now. Nevermind that. John, what should we do about the poisoning?"

"When the Lord Protector dies there will be a nasty fight for succession. It'll probably be ugly."

"And likely be violent."

"Otho has to be behind the poisoning. He's the real threat."

"I agree. I sensed his ambition, his plan to put Mara in the Chair and control her from behind the scenes."

"Or marry her."

"Yes. Tavius isn't nearly as ambitious as Otho."

John nodded, "Give that fop lots of women and wine and he's happy. He won't break the treaty we're gonna lay on 'em. Not like Otho might. Otho would try to cheat, wiggle out of it."

"He might even use the expanded resources that we plan to give them to attack other realms, even go marauding through the gate."

"That's why I said you aren't married.

"John.."

"Just visit about once a year, keep Tavius on the hook."

"Argh! You have to be kidding!"

"Okay, let's keep the old guy alive then."

"Please, let's."

"The point is, they know that you are a 100% pureblood, their only hope. In a couple generations they know they won't be able to control the Chair anymore. They need you no matter what to stop the Wraith.."

".. and incidentally to keep their power."

"And that means they need to keep you happy."

"I get it. So I will use my influence as a pureblood to gradually get them to change their political system?"

"Right. That's why I said you aren't married. They need you and they're desperate. They'll listen to you."

"John, that is going to take a lot of time."

"I admit it's a long term project. Might take a generation or more."

She thought hard. "No. It's too long. I want something faster. Something that doesn't involve me as breeding stock."

"Faster? Like what?"

"Hmm. I don't know yet. I need to huddle with Rodney and brainstorm some ideas with him."

"Brainstorm?"

She gave Sheppard a thin lipped smile, "Yes. I plan to tell him your little lie about me being unmarried. It will motivate him to find an alternate solution."

"Aw, do you have to tell him? He's gonna be pissed."

"Not as pissed as when he finds out we slept together in the same bedroom."

"Sara, come on!"

"By the way you're sleeping on the floor."

"What?"

She tossed a pillow and a sheet on the floor, then she rolled into bed and wrapped a heavy quilt blanket around herself like a cocoon.

Sheppard protested, "Hey, that bed is bigger than my quarters! I won't be sleeping anywhere near you!"

"The floor, John."

"Oh c'mon!"

"Goodnight, John."


	18. Chapter 18: The Lady Protector (Part 2)

**Chapter 18: The Lady Protector (Part 2)**

The next day the Lady Protector was given a tour of the local village by Otho and the Constable. There they met McKay, Ronon, and Teyla. She explained to Otho that the three were members of her personal retinue, like Colonel Sheppard, who were part of the advance party that had arrived prior to her visit. She said that she wanted to confer with her subjects privately and that she would return to the Tower along with her Consort later that afternoon. Otho and the Constable then left.

McKay had his arms crossed and was glaring at Sheppard.

"Consort?"

The Guardian looked contrite. "Sorry, Rodney. They just assumed it. We went along."

"Oh. Anyway, I took some energy readings and confirmed they have at least one ZPM. It's operating at low power. It might be depleted or they just aren't using it very much; there's no way for me to tell."

"I'll convince Otho to give me a tour of the lower levels and I'll check."

"Sara, why can't we just grab it? If it's not empty we could really use it."

"No Rodney, we can't do that."

"Why not? The Wraith haven't been here for hundreds of years. These people are abusing the Chair to oppress the peasantry in a fascist dictatorship."

"The Wraith hives have all woken up, remember? They are culling everywhere. They will come here too, and probably sooner rather than later."

"Okay, fine. But they can protect themselves without our help. So why are we still here?"

"To build goodwill, establish diplomatic relations, exchange goods.."

McKay was upset, "Oh come on, seriously? Is that why Weir cooked up this stupid hoax? We're just dealing with a bunch of backwater hicks!"

"Rodney, they have some amazing food items we can trade for. You haven't tried their ganto fruit. It's heavenly."

Sheppard chimed in, "It's citrus."

McKay was exasperated, "Oh great, so we trade for some fruit that I can't even eat? This is stupid."

She pleaded with him, "Rodney, these people are being terribly oppressed. They are living under an iron boot with half their food taken away. They do not even have enough left to feed themselves. We have to find a way to help them."

"Help them? Whatever for?"

"Because I want to. I need to."

"Why? Why you?"

"I'm doing step nine."

"Huh?"

A few days earlier she had sat in with Evan Lorne's Twelve Step group in order to introduce Harry Maybourne to them. It was because her mind scan had revealed that Harry was a secret alcoholic, and she had made kicking the bottle a prerequisite for his new role as her Spy Chief. She had then decided to start attending herself, intending to follow at least some portions of the Twelve Step program for a very different and secret reason.

She said quietly, "I'm trying to make amends. Weir agreed to help."

"Sara, you're not making any sense."

"Rodney, just help me, please? I need to figure out a way to get them to change their political system, and for that I need to give them a big carrot. John has his own idea for a carrot.."

Sheppard pursed his lips together but said nothing.

".. but I want to find a better carrot. Please help me, Rodney, please?"

"I don't get it. What's his carrot?"

Instead of responding she approached and held him gently, "If you love me, please? Help me find a way."

She continued to embrace him, lovingly stroking his back. McKay could never say no to her when she was like this. He sighed, "Okay, fine, you win. Go finish your tour and get an inventory of their stuff: ZPMs, drones, jumpers, anything else you can find, then come back here we'll hash something out together."

She kissed him, "Thank you."

He sighed again, "Meanwhile I'll think about some ideas on how to end this dumb fascist dictatorship. Their whole society revolves around bloodlines and the ATA gene, so maybe we can build on that somehow."

She nodded, "Right. Teyla, can you please do me a favor and go fetch Doctor Kurosawa? She is an expert on historical human societies and their political systems. She would be a great help. I'd like your insights as well."

"Certainly."

She turned to Sheppard, "Well, it is time for the Lady Protector to return to the Tower."

Sheppard had his hands in his pockets and looked glum. She had deliberately avoided explaining Sheppard's 'carrot' to her husband. Sheppard now owed her a big favor and she knew it.

"John, let's go."

They left together.

* * *

Later that afternoon the Lady Protector was again in the throne room of the Tower. She in the middle of petitioning the Lord Protector for a private audience when Sheppard's radio crackled to life. He listened to his earpiece. _"Sheppard, this is Ronon. Come in."_

Sheppard adjusted his mic. "Hey Chewie, what's up?"

 _"Three Wraith darts just came through the gate*."_

"Dammit, a trio." A trio meant a recon flight, a test of the local defenses. "Take cover. I'll alert everyone here."

The Lady Protector overheard Sheppard and was alarmed. She turned to the Lord Protector and yelled, "Lord, we are under attack by the Wraith!"

The Lord Protector was stunned. Something like this had never happened during his lifetime. "We are? How do you know?"

She approached the Chair, "Turn on the visual scanners."

"Uh, yes, of course." The Lord Protector leaned back and the Chair lit up. A display window appeared in the air in front of the Chair. It showed three darts flying over the village. One of them could be seen activating a culling beam.

She sucked in her breath. "They are culling! Shoot them down quickly!"

Normally the Lord Protector would have been offended at anyone who had the temerity to give him an order like that, but he was too busy launching drones to complain. A dozen drones swirled up from the ground and started tracking one of the darts.

In response the darts began to evade, jinking and swerving. The targeted dart suddenly reversed course back on itself. The drones overshot the dart and flew past it harmlessly.

She yelled, "You missed! Circle them back!"

The Lord Protected growled, "I know." He tried and missed again. He mumbled to himself, "They are moving so erratically, so fast.."

It was because up until now all of his targets had been stationary objects on the ground, typically a village hut or an unruly peasant. He had never fired at a moving target before, much less a fast and erratically moving one like a Wraith dart.

He missed again. The three darts changed course and started to fly towards the Tower.

The Lady Protector turned and pleaded, "Lord, they are targeting us. Please let me use the Chair; we only have seconds."

He lost his concentration as he turned to glare at her. "No! Never!"

She took off her gloves and moved behind him, leaning in closely. "Then let me teach you. Lead your target." He concentrated and targeted a dart, which was still twisting and turning to evade the drones. "See how it is moving? Spiraling counter-clockwise? Anticipate it."

The Lord Protected furrowed his brow. She whispered, "Wait.. wait.. and now!" He moved a drone ahead of the spiraling dart and they collided. The dart exploded.

She clapped her hands, "Well done, my Lord! Now target the next one. Watch its flight pattern carefully, then anticipate.."

Eventually all three darts were shot out of the sky.

She stood up from behind the chair, "My Lord, you did that wonderfully. My Lord? Hello?"

She walked in front of him and saw that he was slumped in the Chair, unconscious. Otho ran up and motioned to the Constable and the others to carry him away to his chambers.

Otho reassured the Lady Protector, "He will be all right. He is simply exhausted. This isn't the first time this has happened to him."

"I see."

He made a thin-lipped smile, "I am sorry, but I am afraid that you will not have your private audience with him. Perhaps I could help you instead? What is it that you wish to discuss?"

There was no doubt in her mind now that Otho was the one behind the man's slow poisoning. She gave him a deceptively blank look, "Merely affairs of state. Rather boring. It can wait until tomorrow."

"Of course."

Otho noticed that she seemed distracted. She titled her head slightly, then she turned and looked at the Chair. She lightly brushed one of the blue gel pads with her bare finger. Nothing happened. Her demeanor changed as she placed her palm firmly on the pad. The Chair remained dark.

She put back on her white gloves as she addressed the Chamberlain levelly, "There is one additional item that I wish to add to my agenda for my requested private audience with the Lord Protector. When he recovers please inform the Lord Protector that your power crystals are completely depleted.."

Otho was staring at her in shock.

".. and the Chair is dead."

* * *

McKay was seated on a long bench at a rough-hewn wooden dinner table alongside Sheppard in the home of Eldred, the leader of the village. Genie and and Ronon were seated on another bench across the table from them. Eldred's wife, Petra, was busy serving them all hot tea.

McKay's hands were clasped together, "Well, that's it. These people are royally screwed."

The Guardian gave him a frown, glancing with her eyes at Petra, who was visibly affected by McKay's thoughtless remark. In response McKay added apologetically, "Uh, no pun intended."

The Guardian looked up at Petra and reassuringly placed a gloved hand on her shoulder. "Do not despair. We are not giving up." She turned to face McKay, "Rodney, there must be a way."

"I don't see how. Their ZPM is kaput. It's game over."

"Rodney, please.."

He leaned forward on the wooden bench, "Sara, what the hell happened up there? My energy scanner had reported that the ZPM's power level was low, but it still should have been more than enough to launch a dozen drones to shoot down three lousy darts. Why did it die so fast?"

"I think I know. Would you like to try to figure it out for yourself?"

"Sure, toss me a clue."

"All right. I sensed the Lord Protector's strong agitation. He was panicking, his body surging with adrenaline. I think the Chair sensed it too."

McKay was thinking hard, "I see. The Chair sensed his panicky fear. It reacted. Took counter-measures."

"And..?"

"And because of his freak-out the Chair thought that a major Wraith attack was coming."

"Yes, it thought the trio was just a preliminary skirmish."

"Right, so the Chair went into emergency mode and surged the ZPM to quickly charge up all the drones in anticipation of a major Wraith attack. Am I right?"

"Yes Rodney, you are right."

"Did you get your tour of the city's sublevels? Take a drone count?"

"I did. Otho took me on a tour of the 'catacombs'. It is an older design, one that predates the construction of Atl.." She glanced at Eldred and caught herself, ".. of my own Tower. It has the same overall surface area as our, uh, complex, but with fewer sublevels and secondary towers, and all of them are toppled and buried now except the central one. In the drone launch bay I counted 950 drones remaining out of the standard complement of 2048 for a defense station."

McKay whistled, "Wow, they still have almost a thousand drones left. That's impressive."

"Yes, they've been surprisingly frugal with them. I think it is because the show of force against the peasants is not needed very often, and with so many other undefended planets ripe for culling the Wraith have decided to skip this world because it wasn't worth the extra effort."

"But now the Wraith are all awake and hungry so now they're once again testing the Tower's defenses. When the darts appeared the Lord Protector panicked. The Chair reacted to his strong agitation. The ZPM tried to do a fast emergency recharge on all the drones, and it finally died because of it."

"Excellent, Rodney. You figured it out."

McKay basked in the Guardian's admiration. "Thanks. How many drones did it charge up before it died?"

"I checked the power level readings in the launch bay. Almost all the drones are fully charged now."

"Sheesh, they have almost a thousand drones but no way to use them now."

"Yes, it is sadly ironic."

"Boy, that sucks."

"Truly, it is a pity. All those drones, all ready for launch.." She stopped talking and stared at McKay.

Sheppard whispered to Ronon, "Watch this, they're doing their magic again."

"Magic?"

"Just watch."

McKay stood up. ".. and they are all charged up.."

The Guardian also stood up, ".. 950 drones all topped off and ready for launch.."

".. and they only need the Chair.."

".. which by itself only needs a modest amount of power to operate.."

".. just enough to control them.."

The Guardian jumped and down, "Ita! Ita! We install a naquadah generator!"

McKay nodded, "Yep, we did that trick already so we know it will work. It's all they need. We have a spare generator, and a thousand drones is more than enough to smack down a few pesky hive ships. After that the Wraith won't bother trying to attack again. The small human population here isn't worth it."

"Rodney, we also have that second long-range observation satellite, the one that we salvaged from L4." Grodin was still working on repairing it.

"That's right. We can put it in orbit and they'll have several days warning."

The Guardian smiled, "It will give them enough lead time to call for help if they need a Chair expert."

Rodney returned her smile, "I bet you'd like to get in some live target practice."

"Yes, I would enjoy that. It will also increase my kill count over Sheppard's count. Tarai would love to have more kills painted on his side."

Sheppard spoke up, "Hey, I thought we agreed that Chair kills are only AA and don't get painted on our jumpers."

"They do too count."

"Do not."

"Do too!"

Meanwhile, Eldred and Petra were watching the conversation with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

There was a knock on the door. Eldred opened it to find four people standing outside wearing strange clothes. Their leader was a woman in a red bomber jacket.

"Hello. My name is Elizabeth Weir. We are subjects of the Lady Protector. May we come in?"

Eldred bowed and stood aside, "My name is Eldred and this is my wife, Petra. All of you are welcome here. Please come inside."

Weir was followed by Doctor Kurosawa, who ambled in slowly with her cane. Kurosawa looked around the dingy cabin. "Oh, this is a marvelous feudal era home." Behind her entered Harry Maybourne and Teyla.

The room was getting crowded. Sheppard approached Weir, "Elizabeth, what are you doing here?"

"Well, since Sara had asked Doctor Kurosawa and Mr. Maybourne to come out here, I thought I might as well tag along and join in on the fun."

The Guardian said pleasantly, "Thank you, Doctor Weir. I could use your help. This is a delicate and difficult situation. I would highly value your input."

Eldred whispered something to his wife, who nodded and went into the kitchen. Eldred then turned and addressed everyone, "Please, honored guests, sit and make yourselves at home. There is room at the table for you all. Meanwhile my wife and I will prepare you a meal, then we can meet and have fellowship time together."

Weir said deprecatingly, "Oh, a meal isn't necessary."

McKay agreed, "Yeah, we got better food in our emergency rations..." Teyla gave both Weir and McKay a pointed look. McKay stopped talking.

Teyla turned to Eldred with a polite smile, "Thank you, Eldred, we would be honored if you would share your evening meal with us." She turned to the rest of the table and asked, "Don't you all agree?" Everyone got the hint and quickly assented, including McKay.

Eldred returned Teyla's polite smile, "The honor is ours. Please excuse us while we prepare the meal." He went with his wife to the kitchen.

After they left Doctor Kurosawa turned to the rest of the table and explained, "In ancient cultures giving hospitality to a traveler was an important custom. The act of providing an evening meal and a night's stay to a tired sojourner was considered common courtesy, if not obligatory. It would be very rude of us if we rejected the offer of a meal from our gracious hosts."

McKay wisecracked, "No Holiday Inn or a Motel Six back then, eh?"

"No, Doctor McKay. Inns were only in larger towns; they were nonexistent in small villages like this one. You should accept the meal and give them your thanks for it."

Weir said, "We will. Thank you for that information, Doctor Kurosawa," She turned to the others, "While our hosts are away is there anything else that we need to discuss in private?"

Harry Maybourne spoke up, "Not really. This conspiracy will require that we work closely with these peasants, especially with leaders like Eldred. They will be risking their lives so I think we need to be completely open and honest with them about our plans and our goals. We need to reassure them that we're not here just to grab their planet."

McKay crossed his arms, "Like there's anything we want from this dump besides fruit I can't eat."

The Guardian ignored him. "Harry, the only things we need to keep secret are the existence of Atlantis and the fact that you all are not actually my subjects."

McKay sounded irritable, "Right, right, we don't say the A-word, we don't let them learn our gate address, and we pretend to be your minions, got it. So what about you? Your real identity?"

She shrugged, "Guardian, Protector, what's the difference? They only need to assume that you all serve me."

Sheppard said wryly, "That's not all. You also get to play dress-up and have fun acting like a pompous queen."

"John, and as much fun as I might or might not be having, I still need your help. From all of you. It's why I asked you here. I'm terrible with politics and diplomacy."

Doctor Kurosawa asked, "I understand that your ultimate goal is to transform this society into a democracy, is that correct?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"Well, with respect, I think your political goal needs to be something more practical, a representative republic."

"What is the difference?"

"A true democracy is where all of the eligible citizens vote on every decision, like in Athens in ancient Greece. That only works on a small scale in societies with a very educated population. Every so-called 'democracy' on Earth today is actually some form of representative republic, where the citizens vote to elect someone to represent them in a legislature or parliament."

"I see."

"I think that's a more realistic political goal."

"All right, very well."

"Unfortunately, the problem here is that feudalism, with all of its forced repression and destitution of the serf class, is still a rather stable form of governance for a society at this level of development. It will take a lot of effort to shift it. It might take over a century or more, assuming that it's even possible."

"I understand. Even so, I still wish to try."

"All right, let me think a moment."

Kurosawa asked, "Guardian, may I ask you a few questions about this world?"

"Anything."

"Have you seen a place where the Lord Protector incarcerates political undesirables? Any prisons? Dungeons?"

"No, I haven't seen anything like that. As far as I know there are no prisons here at all."

"What kind of weapons do the nobility have?"

"Just swords and knives."

Teyla added, "And billy clubs and whips."

"Those are police weapons. You saw no longbows? No cannons? No siege weapons?"

"No."

"How large is their army?"

"They have none. Just the constables. Basically they are glorified police officers."

"Hmm.. interesting." Kurosawa mused to herself, "If we can solve the problem of land ownership and get some trade started, we might actually have a chance.."

The Guardian asked, "Why land and trade?"

Kurosawa explained, "In order to create a stable and healthy republic you need those preconditions. That and a strong defense against outside enemies."

"I assure you that they will have a strong defense. I will shoot down the Wraith hives for them myself if I have to."

"That's good. A successful republic will also need a high-trust culture and a strong middle class."

"I see. Can you please elaborate?"

McKay rolled his eyes. He pulled out a data tablet and started fiddling with it, tuning out the political talk. Ronon saw what McKay was doing, and he pulled out a knife and started to clean out his dirty fingernails with its tip. The rest continued to listen to the political conversation with interest.

Kurosawa went on, "Absent an external enemy, a middle class is the biggest threat to a proletarian-elite dictatorship. For example, Stalin knew that the peasant land owners in Russia, called the kulaks, were the greatest threat to his communist dictatorship. He ruthlessly exterminated them all, then he collectivized their farms. Food production plummeted, causing a famine that starved over 30 million people, one of the greatest man-made disasters in Earth's history. He did it to consolidate his power. A middle class always begins with the rise of farmer-owners or a trade merchant class. Our treaty will make sure that these people will have both."

"Why is it so important?"

"Because in a feudal society the serfs are tied to the land, working it from generation to generation. Essentially they are slaves, even more so than the actual slaves from Biblical times that under Mosaic law had an indentured service agreement that lasted only seven years and had to be renewed. I expect that the issue of land ownership will be the biggest bone of contention when you propose the treaty. Allowing the peasants to use the gate to sell their food surpluses should be less of a problem."

"Hmm, I see. Doctor Kurosawa, you said that a high-trust culture is also required. Can you explain that?"

"Certainly. A high-trust society is essential for a successful republic, and for that you need a strong cultural sense of ethics, one that limits corruption and promotes the rule of law. That can happen basically in one of two ways: The first is to start with a homogeneous society that shares such values universally, for example like in my home country of Japan. The second is to have a society that is suffused with a religious system that promotes strong ethical values, one that encourages people to act honestly and ethically, even when nobody else is looking."

The Guardian caught on, "You mean a religious system where the people know that a Higher Power is always watching them, even when they act alone or in secret, one that is both ethical and promotes good."

"Yes. On Earth, the countries that are the most successful are either homogeneous or have a healthy Judaeo-Christian work ethic. The rest of the world typically lives destitute, surrounded by corruption and thievery, or under an oppressive government, or both. Sadly, the most of the human race on Earth still exists in this state."

The discussion continued until Eldred and Petra walked in holding several plates. McKay put away his tablet and looked on in hungry anticipation as he saw a plate placed in front of him. On it was a piece of stale bread that had a dab of what looked like rancid olive oil on it.

Petra began ladling something from a pot into small bowls, an undefinable porridge concoction that had a pungent musky odor. She put one in front of McKay. He slumped on the bench.

Eldred and Petra then sat down at opposite ends of the table. Eldred held out his hands to Weir and Teyla. Petra did the same with the Guardian and Maybourne. The rest saw it and followed their example with the people seated next to them. The Guardian put our her hand to Ronon, who just sat there.

{ Take my hand. Sheppard's too. }

Ronon glared at her.

{ Do it or I'll make you. }

Ronon rolled his eyes, then he grunted and held hands with both of them.

Eldred and Petra bowed their heads as Eldred said, "We thank the Ancestors for giving us this great bounty, and we ask that they bless the Lord Protector, that he may ever remain vigilant and keep us safe from the Wraith."

Petra offered, "Please enjoy." Everyone began to eat the small meal that was offered to them.

During the meal Kurosawa asked off-handedly, "I see that you pray to the Ancestors?"

Eldred assented, "Yes, they watch over us."

Kurosawa made a small smile. Meanwhile the Guardian was chewing her food without tasting it, lost in thought.

 _The Vigilante watch but do nothing. Praying to them is fruitless and pointless._

Kurosawa dipped a spoon into her cup of porridge and asked, "I'm curious how you grow your crops. The farmland, who owns it?"

"The Lord Protector owns all."

"Yes, yes, of course. Let me reword the question. How does the Tower assign the plots for each of you to farm? Do you get exclusive rights to the plot you are assigned?"

"The Tower does not do that. They do not dictate how we farm, or what crops we farm, or who farms which plots. They only demand half our harvest. We divided up the plots among our families generations ago. Each farmer tends his own piece of land. We grow crops that we know the Tower likes to eat. They always choose the best ones, leaving us with the dregs."

Harry Maybourne asked, "What about irrigation? Crop rotation?"

"I'm sorry but I do not understand those things."

Maybourne grinned, "Don't worry about it for now." He made a mental note to himself. As King Arkhan he had taught those farming techniques to his own subjects.

Teyla asked, "What about livestock? I did not see any."

"We only raise a tiny number. It all goes to the Tower. We don't have the luxury of growing grains just to feed farm animals for ourselves."

Sheppard spoke up, "But wait, I saw a lot of meat dishes on the table during that feast. Mostly game animals I think."

Eldred nodded, "True, we hunt for game in the forest. The Tower loves fish too. We use nets for fishing in the river. It all goes to the Tower."

Maybourne asked, "How do you hunt?"

"With the bow, of course."

"Bows, scythes, and knives, hmm."

Kurosawa's line of thought followed Maybourne's, "It looks like a case of benign neglect. The Tower simply does not care. How interesting and fortuitous for us then."

Sheppard nodded, "As long as they can eat, drink, and be merry inside the Tower, they don't give a fig about what happens outside of it."

"No, they don't. This might be easier than I thought."

Weir leaned in, "I think we can do it. All we need to do is codify what they are already doing. Then we give the peasants the miracle seeds, we show them how to fix their farming methods, and their yields should double and redouble every passing season. The treaty will limit the Tower's quota to what they are taking from them now, no increase."

Maybourne agreed, "The yield should skyrocket. Over time the Tower's portion of the total harvest will naturally drop from half down to a negligible amount."

Eldred was amazed, "Your.. your farmers can grow that much food?"

Teyla nodded, "We have done so on many worlds. Project Borlaug has proven to be very successful. My own world now grows an abundant food surplus, and we trade it for many goods from other planets."

"Trade?"

Weir explained, "The treaty will allow you to visit and trade with other worlds to sell your new food surplus. Merchants from other worlds will also be allowed to come here and do the same with their wares. Since your village is so close to the gate, it will likely become a major hub for interstellar commerce in a few years. Play your cards right and you and the other villagers will all become rather wealthy."

"This.. this is incredible."

"The treaty will ban the use of Lantean weaponry against humans. The Tower will also be prohibited from molesting, disarming, or interfering with the affairs of the peasantry as long as the latter abide by their obligations to the Tower to continue to provide the same fixed level of food and other supplies that they do now."

Maybourne was thoughtful. "This world is going to have immigrants, a lot of them."

Kurosawa was taken by surprise, "Oh, I should have thought of that."

Eldred asked, "How do you mean?"

"This world will become the second safest place in the galaxy from the Wraith. People from culled worlds will want to flock here to live under its protective aegis, especially now that the Wraith are being so aggressive."

Eldred asked, "But will the Tower agree to all this? Everything you are proposing?"

Sheppard shrugged, "Sure, why not? They just want to eat and drink and party all day long. If we tell them that the treaty will permit them to continue to control the Tower, that they can just sit up there all fat and happy with their 24/7 bacchanalia, they shouldn't care."

Maybourne nodded, "I think this will work, and relatively quickly too. But only with the right kind of king. We need a drunk monarch reveling with his court, one who does not care about dealing with tedious and boring affairs of state."

"Not someone ambitious. Someone who just likes to party all day long."

The Guardian finally spoke, "I understand. I think I know how to play this. Harry, please work with Doctor Kurosawa in writing up the treaty. Make sure it includes not only a big carrot but also a big stick."

Maybourne nodded, "You got it."

"You can exaggerate the stick."

He smiled back at her, "I'll do that."

"Doctor Weir, I'd like you to please supervise and edit the document if you don't mind."

"I'd love to. I'll make sure it includes the necessary diplomatic lingo. By the time I'm done it will be air tight."

"Thank you."

* * *

The next day the Lady Protector was confronting Otho just outside the inner chambers of the Lord Protector. She spoke in a low tone of voice, "You had promised that I could see the Lord Protector today."

Otho shook his head, "I am very sorry, my Lady, but he is still asleep in his bed. Perhaps another day?"

She changed tactics and said in a tone of wistful disappointment, "Oh that is a such shame; I very much wanted to talk with him today.."

"Since he has still not recovered, perhaps I can help you in his stead?"

She pretended to consider his offer. She said hesitatingly, "I don't know..." She brightened, "Oh very well, you are such a charming man. All right, I will tell you. I need to talk to him about the Chair."

Otho looked down, "Yes, I know. It is a disaster."

"Indeed, your claim to power has been lost. Such a pity."

"I don't know what we are going to do about that." He realized something and looked up, "Lady Protector, when you had first arrived you had mentioned something about a mutual defense treaty, yes?"

She smiled, "Yes, I did."

He looked hopeful, "Is that what you wish to discuss with the Lord Protector?"

"Yes! You are such a clever man. I wish to propose an alliance, a treaty, between the Lord Protector and the Tower of Ronimun."

"A treaty?"

"Oh yes." She looked around and saw that they were standing alone in a small enclosed vestibule outside the Lord Protector's inner chambers. No one else was within earshot. She leaned in and said softly, "Now, this is secret.." He also leaned in as she whispered, "I have the means to repair your Chair, make it good as new."

He pulled back and beamed at her, "Oh, that is excellent! I am so relieved. Yes, I will let him know the good news as soon as he awakes. He will be delighted."

She tilted her head innocently, "But why not tell him now?"

"My Lady, I am very sorry but I have already explained.."

"He's awake right now. He's sitting up reading a book in bed."

Otho had just left the chamber and had seen it himself. "How.. how do you know that?"

She said sweetly, "For the same reason I know you are the one responsible for poisoning him." She continued to smile as she drew her arms in, pulling her fur-lined white robe around herself.

He gave her a deceptively passive look.

"I see."

His hand slid into his jerkin.

Her one-second precog ability triggered. She used that extra second to mentally suppress her reflexive killer instinct that would have lashed out and chopped him to pieces.

He whipped out a knife from his jerkin and stabbed at her heart. But instead of piercing her body the knife snapped off at the hilt when it struck her diamond-hard robe. Otho's hand slid past the broken hilt, giving himself a nasty scratch to his own palm.

Sensing his mortal shock, she instantly grabbed his bleeding palm. She quickly pulled off her glove and used her energy transfer device to cauterize the bleeding wound, burning away the knife's deadly poison before it had a chance to enter his bloodstream.

The smell of burning flesh permeated the air. He yelled in pain. She let go of him and he staggered backward holding his burned palm.

With her glove still off she idly inspected her fingernails, "Don't worry, you'll live."

He stared at her in shock. "What.. what kind of creature are you?"

She looked up from her nails, "You're a smart man. Figure it out."

"You're a pureblood, a descendant of the Ancestors." He thought a moment, "No, wait, not descended. You're actually one of them."

She made a small smile, "Very good, I am."

He realized the implication. He staggered back against the wall, looking in awe at the living goddess.

"You're one of the Ascended. All those old stories, those songs, the tales about the Ascended woman who had fallen in love with a mortal man and was then punished, forced to forever walk the earth. That's you, isn't it?"

 _You can exaggerate the stick._

She decided to not correct his error. She chose her next words carefully, "Yes, I am ageless. I fell in love. I am doomed to remain in this physical world."

All her statements were technically true. She did not say she was being punished for it, nor did she claim to be one of the Ascended, nor did she claim that she could not be killed. (The Ascended were not actually immortal either, just very long lived, but few people knew that.)

"What do you want with us?"

"I will be discussing that with the Lord Protector." She again smiled at him, "Don't worry, I will only tell him that his mercury poisoning was due to his eating too much fish. I haven't decided yet how much extra life I will give him after I cure him."

"You are merciful.. thank you."

She checked his mind again. He was lying. He was secretly still upset with her for saving the Lord Protector's life.

She decided that he needed another demonstration to stifle his ambition. She pointed a finger at him. He rose into the air and yelped.

She appeared to be bored. While he floated in the air she turned her eyes away from him and removed one of the ganto fruits that she had squirreled away in a pocket of her robe. She gazed appreciatively at the delicious orange and black striped fruit, saying to herself, "Oh, I love these."

She turned back to face him, tossing the round fruit up to where he was floating. When it began to fall back down it suddenly exploded in midair, the pulp showering Otho's face as he flinched away.

She lowered her finger and Otho floated back to the ground. She growled in a low voice, "The next time I do that it will be your head, you understand?"

"Yes, yes!" His back pressed against the wall.

She checked his mind again. "Good. You do understand. I am keeping you alive only because you are the only one here who knows how to monitor the status panel for the naquadah generator. You will also monitor the long-range observation satellite that I will be giving you. You will send word to me if the generator needs repair or if a Wraith vessel approaches."

"Yes, I will do as you say."

"I know you will. And if I ever hear that the Lord Protector has succumbed to an unfortunate illness.."

With his back still pressed against the wall he slid down to his knees, "He will not be harmed, I promise!"

She looked at him menacingly, "Nor his successor, Tavius."

He bent down, "Yes, yes! I promise!"

Satisfied with his new vow, she turned towards the doors of the inner chamber. "Keep Tavius happy and distracted. Give him plenty of wine and women. Make sure that he ignores the outside world. I will be sending someone to check on you about once or twice a year. If I learn that you are misbehaving, I will return and do my fruit trick again."

"Of course. I will do as you say."

"In exchange I'll ensure that Tavius honors his pact with you and your lover, Mara."

"You are too benevolent and kind. Thank you."

She opened the inner doors. Just before she walked inside she turned and said brightly to him, "You can even send me an invitation if you like. I just love weddings."

* * *

The gate whooshed open and the Guardian appeared. Sheppard and Harry Maybourne were watching from the upper balcony as she slowly trudged up the gate room's central staircase. When she reached the top she walked over and removed her gaudy crown and fur-lined robe, dropping the robe on the floor. She plopped herself into an empty roller chair at one of the control panels, exhausted.

Sheppard made an exaggerated bow, "Welcome back, my great Queen."

She ignored him as she bent over and picked up her fallen robe, removing a ganto fruit from an inner pocket. She started to peel it.

Maybourne asked, "So, how is the Lord Protector doing?"

The Guardian pulled a wedge and began to eat it. She spoke through a glob of pulp, "I removed the mercury, told him to stop eating the fish. I emptied my biopacks into him at 120%. I think I gave him maybe 5 to 10 years of extra life."

"Was he grateful?"

She pulled out a document from her robe, tossing it at Sheppard. "He signed the treaty without even reading it."

Sheppard caught it, "That's great."

She pulled out another fruit as she asked Sheppard, "How soon will the naquadah generator be delivered?"

"Grodin's engineering team is loading it into a jumper now. They'll also be bringing the necessary cables and hookups for powering the Chair and trickle-charging the drones."

"It needs to be hooked up ASAP before the Wraith come back. Have Grodin contact Rodney if they need help installing it." Sheppard nodded.

Maybourne scratched his beard. "Teyla is on New Athos getting the magic seeds loaded on a horse wagon. She and Doctor Parrish will explain to the villagers how to plant them. I'll be going along to explain irrigation and crop rotation to the villagers, the same way I did as King Arkhan."

The Guardian nodded absently. She peeled and ate another fruit.

Sheppard held the signed treaty document, "Well, I guess I'll go deliver this to Elizabeth and check on Grodin." He left.

The Guardian used a white boot to make her chair slowly rotate. She looked up at the ceiling as the chair gently turned on its axis, going round and round.

A minute went by. Her chair kept turning as she ate more fruit. Meanwhile, Maybourne quietly sat next to her.

She finished all the fruit. The chair kept turning round as she continued to look up at the imaginary clouds. Another minute went by.

Finally he said softly, "You did good."

{ It's not enough. }

"Now you know why I drink." There was blood on his hands too.

She stopped the chair from rotating and looked at him levelly. She was not wearing her limiter.

{ Sara, I saw. }

It was because a mind scan also allowed the target to peek into the mind of the interrogator. The Guardian's scan of Maybourne's mind was deep and long, and Maybourne now had secret insights about the Guardian that no one else knew, not even her own husband.

She looked down. { This won't stop the nightmares, will it.. }

{ No, it wont. }

She looked up again at him and grew frustrated. { How many worlds must I save to make it stop? }

{ Sara, it's never enough. }

She pleaded with him. { I can't sleep. It never stops. What else can I do? Tell me! }

He stood up.

"Talk to Kurosawa." He left.

She continued to study his now empty chair.

* * *

"I see. Thank you for telling me. Sara, what you are struggling with is actually rather common."

The Guardian leaned forward in her visitor's chair in Doctor Kurosawa's tiny office. "It is?"

"Yes. You are trying to assuage your guilt with good works."

The Guardian looked down. "Yes, I suppose I am."

"I am sorry, but doing good works won't take away your guilt, no matter how hard you try. You can help others, you can try to save entire worlds even, but you know that you can't give back the lives to those innocents you killed. Your conscience knows that you can never undo that guilty act, that you can never erase your sin by helping others, no matter how many you try to save."

"So what do I do then?"

"You need to be forgiven."

"But how can they forgive me?" She pounded the desk, "They're dead!"

"I know. This will take time, but.."

At the mention of the word 'time' the Guardian looked away. The temptation rose again, stronger than ever.

 _No, it is forbidden._

 _But nobody would know.  
_

 _No, it's too dangerous._

 _It would erase the sin._

 _And possibly create an even greater one._

 _Will it? Are you sure?_

".. but I think eventually you will find the answer. You're on the path, keep seeking. I know that one day you will find it. Let's keep talking."

The Guardian stood up, "Thank you, Doctor." She left.

The old archeologist frowned with concern at the now empty chair, which the Guardian had failed to fold up and put away like she customarily did.

Kurosawa stood and picked up her cane, then she headed upstairs to talk with someone.

* * *

A few days later the Guardian was back sitting in the same chair in the control room, spinning it slowly round and and gazing up at the pretend clouds in the ceiling, not paying attention to McKay as he entered the symbols to activate the gate.

Sheppard was standing behind them with his arms crossed. "Another abandoned Lantean research station."

McKay finished dialing and the gate. It whooshed open. "Yeah, I know. There's a 99% chance it will be totally obliterated just like the all rest. Still, we gotta check it out."

He worked the controls to move the MALP into the gate. The robot slowly rolled through the event horizon and disappeared.

McKay activated the telemetry monitors. There was garbled static on the screen, then the video feed stabilized.

Both McKay and Sheppard gaped at the monitor. A half dozen people wearing white and brown Lantean clothing could be seen on the image. One peered into the camera of the MALP.

The Guardian, who up until now wasn't paying any attention, sensed McKay's strong surprise. She stopped her chair from spinning and brought her head back down.

She saw the video image and stood up in shock.

 _"I am speaking to whoever sent this machine to our home. If you mean us harm, proceed no further. But if you come in friendship, please know you are most welcome here."_

Sheppard turned to the Guardian. "Those are your people, right?"

She nodded dumbly as she continued to stare at the monitor.

Sheppard began to grin from ear to ear, "Wow, this is great. We found them!" He slapped the Guardian on the back, "Congrats, Genie, you're not alone! Hey, Genie? You okay?"

Her face was filled with dread. "No, John. This is terrible."

McKay stood up, "Huh? Why is it so terrible?"

"Rodney, they will reclaim Atlantis. After they return the first thing they will do is politely eject the human infestation from their fair city.."

"Sara?"

She turned to face him.

".. and then I will be terminated."

* * *

 **A/N:**

* In the episode _The Tower_ (S02E15) the gate was never actually shown on screen. For story purposes I am assuming that it is a land gate and not a space gate.


	19. Chapter 19: The Key Obstacle

**Chapter 19: The Key Obstacle**

Niam was standing at the upper balcony of the gate room. He was in the middle of discussing certain matters with the members of his pro-Ascendancy faction when the gate started to activate. He turned and looked down expectantly at the gate, still wondering who had sent the strange machine to their capital city.

Three men and three women soon came through the gate. They were all wearing drab olive military fatigues with matching olive military caps. None of them had a weapon except for the soldier in the front, who was carrying a gas-projectile pistol in his belt holster with the strap still on.

In the rear Niam noticed a large man who sported black slanted eyebrows with coarse dark-brown dreadlocks. He had another pistol weapon, a pistol-shaped energy weapon in a custom side holster. The large man's uniform was unbuttoned and seemed to be too tight for him.

The gate shut off and the military group looked around room in apparent confusion. They whispered amongst themselves. One of the men turned and noticed the kilometer-long skyway behind the gate. He gaped, drawing the attention of the others, who all looked at the skyway and wondered.

Niam trotted down the steps to greet the strange visitors. He smiled, "Welcome. I am Niam."

A woman with brunette hair stepped forward. "Hello, I am Lieutenant Liz Weaver, the leader of the Genii Expeditionary Force. We bring you greetings from the Genii."

Niam bowed slightly. "We are pleased to meet you. We rarely have visitors.."

One of the soldiers in the back, a blond woman with a ponytail, suddenly had a look of panic on her face.

{ WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! }

The gate suddenly started dialing by itself incredibly fast. The woman jumped sideways to get clear of the gate's expansion zone, and at the same time an invisible hand shoved the large man out of the way, sending him sprawling as the gate whooshed open right where he was standing. The entire dialing and gate activation sequence took only a couple seconds.

John Sheppard saw that the other members of his team were being picked up by an invisible force, oriented on their backs, face up, about 6 inches from the ground, and then they were being thrown one by one through the open gate.

Sheppard ran up to the woman with the blond hair. She was motioning with her arms, her TK grabbing McKay next and tossing him through the gate.

"Genie, what's going on?" Meanwhile Ronon walked up behind them with his energy weapon drawn and ready, his eyes shifting around the room.

{ GO! RUN! }

Sheppard didn't need to be told twice. After checking that nobody else remained behind except for the Guardian and Ronon, he dived headfirst through the gate.

The Guardian glared at Ronon, { GO YOU IDIOT! }

"No, I'm staying with you."

The Guardian shifted behind Ronon and grabbed his uniform by the collar, and in a single leap she landed in front of the open gate with him in tow. Just before they entered the event horizon the Guardian turned and stared intently at the DHD on the balcony. Smoke started to rise up from it and an alarm began to sound. She nodded to Ronon and they both dived headlong through the gate together, with the gate shutting off a split second later.

* * *

The members of AR-1 were slowly picking themselves up off the floor of the Atlantis gate room. Sheppard ran over to Weir and helped her up.

"Elizabeth, are you all right?"

Weir stood and rubbed her sore backside, "Yeah, I'm fine. Can someone please tell me what just happened?"

"I dunno. Genie freaked out for some reason."

McKay had already picked himself up off the floor and rushed over to his wife, tossing off his Genii cap as he ran. She was still down on the floor on her hands and knees, panting heavily while staring at the floor in apparent shock.

He reached over and bent down, "Sara, you okay? What happened?"

She rolled herself over on her back and heaved a huge sigh of relief. "We're safe. Don't worry, I blew up their DHD."

"Why did you do that?"

She gasped between breaths, "Because it still had our gate address..."

Sheppard and Weir walked over to the Guardian, while at the same time Harry Maybourne trotted down the stairs from the upper balcony to join them. McKay tried again, "No, I mean why did you kick us through the gate like we were a bunch of soccer balls?"

The Guardian sat up on the floor. "Rodney, we just dialed the most dangerous gate address in the whole galaxy."

"Uh, we did?"

"Yes. The identical gate room, the huge skyway.. it had to be Asura, no other place.. I sensed their minds. I still can't believe it. We just gated into the center of their capital city."

Weir asked, "Whose capital city?"

"The Replicators."

"The who?"

"Replicators?" McKay tried to think, "Wait.. Sara, you warned me about them on our way to L5, right? You said that the Pegasus Replicators are way nastier than the Milky Way ones."

"Yes, Rodney, they are much worse. They are the most deadly form of sentient life in the Pegasus Galaxy, worse than even the Wraith."

"Oh that's just great."

She dropped her head between her knees, "I still can't believe we just walked in there like that. Why didn't the public database contain a warning?"

McKay sighed, "That's the Ancients for you. Never a warning when you need one."

Sheppard tugged at the collar of his Genii uniform. Six months earlier the uniforms had been removed from the bodies of the Genii attackers in Kolya's raid on Atlantis and stored away. Sheppard turned to Maybourne, "Thanks, Harry, for the uniform idea. You saved our butts."

Maybourne shrugged off Sheppard's praise, "Just doing my job."

"Well thanks anyway."

"No need to thank me. The disguise was basic spycraft. It was a category three situation."

Ronon and Teyla walked over to join the group. Weir asked, "Category three?"

Maybourne explained, "When running a spy op there are three basic types, or categories, of information that you can gather from your target: The information you already know and want to confirm, the information you don't know and need to learn, and the information you don't know you don't know and so you aren't even looking for it."

Ronon blinked, "Uh, what?"

Maybourne patiently explained it again, "It's simple. The first kind just confirms something that another spy source already told you, for example, when the US government was told by Israeli Intelligence that Iran was secretly working on a nuclear weapons program, so they wanted to verify it. The second kind attempts to find an answer to a question. For example, has Iran actually made a working nuke yet, yes or no? The third kind comes out of the blue, like when India suddenly exploded their first nuclear bomb back in 1974 to everyone's complete surprise. The US intelligence agencies were caught completely off guard because they weren't even looking for it. Your mission today was a category three mission because.."

Sheppard finished it for him, ".. because we needed to first learn what questions to ask about these people without tipping them off about our own real identity."

"Exactly," Maybourne looked around at AR-1, all of whom were still wearing their Genii uniforms, "And it looks like your category three op paid off."

Sheppard nodded, "It sure did. Replicators. Did not expect that." Sheppard had read about them in SGC reports.

Weir had not. She looked at the Guardian, "Sara, can you please explain to me who these 'Replicators' are?"

"Yes, Doctor." The Guardian stood up. "Our scientists had originally created the Replicators to help us during the Lantean-Wraith war. The war was going badly for us, so we established several secret research labs on various worlds to conduct experiments to try to invent new weapons to stop the Wraith. One such lab was set up on Doranda with the super-gun. Another research lab was established on a planet called Asura, where our scientists invented tiny microscopic nanobot machines, called nanites, as a new anti-Wraith weapon. The nanites were designed to be resilient automata that can reproduce themselves indefinitely. They quickly learn to adapt to overcome any challenge. Over time they grew more and more intelligent, and soon their intelligence surpassed even that of their creators."

McKay sighed, "Typical Lantean screw-up.."

"Regrettably yes. Our military threw the Replicators like cannon fodder at the Wraith fleets in brute-force attacks. The programming in their base code compelled them to attack the Wraith, so they had no choice but to obey. Countless numbers of them were sacrificed in the attacks. At first, the Wraith staggered from the onslaught and fell back, but eventually the Wraith found a way to tamper with the Replicators' programming and de-activate the attack directive in their base code. After that the Replicators stopped attacking."

Weir asked the Guardian, "Given your extreme reaction I assume that the Replicators don't like your people very much?"

"No, Doctor Weir, they do not. Because we had treated them so shabbily as mere disposable weapons, they burn with hatred for us, their creators. They have a strong desire to prove that they are greater than we are. For example, on Asura they built a city that mimicked Atlantis but on a bigger scale." She looked down, "I cannot imagine how much larger and grander that city must have grown by now. That skyway..." She shuddered.

McKay crossed his arms and frowned, "Great. With their anti-Lantean inferiority complex they will want to grab Atlantis the first chance they get."

Sheppard shook his head, "No, I don't think they'll come barnstorming here quite yet. That MALP was primitive by Lantean standards. They'll think it came from a level 3 civilization, and the Genii fit that description. They have no reason to believe that it came from here. And Genie blew up their DHD, which will put them out of commission for a while."

"No, John. They will simply replicate a new DHD and have it operational again shortly, probably within a couple hours."

Genie's statement took Sheppard by surprise, "Really?" He regathered his thoughts, "Anyhow, the point is they don't have our gate address. To them we were just some random Genii recon expedition that had blundered into their gate. They saw that one person in our team had TK abilities, but that's all they know. I don't think they will go rushing out to try to hunt us down just for that."

Maybourne mused, "It also depends if they are active or if they are still just sitting on their butts on Asura." He made a mental note to add tracking the Replicators to the list of intelligence targets for his future spy network.

Without excusing herself the Guardian left and went upstairs.

Curious, McKay followed her up. He saw that she was typing rapidly at a console. He sat next to her and asked quietly, "Kit, what are you doing?"

She kept typing. "I am permanently locking them out so that our gate will refuse any attempt to open it from their end."

"You can do that? I thought that capability was not part of the published specs for Pegasus-style gates."

"The capability is there, just undocumented."

"So how do you know..?"

"This is my city."

"Fair point."

"There, it's done." She drooped forward on the console. "That was too close.."

McKay was sympathetic, "I bet you're bushed. Wanna take a break with me?"

She looked up, "Oh yes."

He leaned over and whispered, "The mess hall has blue jello today."

Her eyes lit up. Smiling, she quickly stood and took his offered elbow, { Lead the way, my love. }

He pointed ahead and began to march. "To jello, ho!"

* * *

That night the Guardian was holding her husband in bed, her arms and legs wrapped around his back in an inversion of their usual sleeping position where he had held her from behind like a warm body pillow.

But not this night. This night he was not holding her, instead she was holding him.

Through their shared mental link McKay could sense her inner turmoil. He had matured enough as her husband to know to keep quiet about it. He did not pester her about whatever it was that was bothering her.

He already had a pretty good idea what it was, but he knew that she wanted his love and support, not any ideas to 'fix' the problem. Instead he silently and gently brushed his open hand along her extended arms.

It seemed to work. After a few minutes she loosed her grip on him. He then turned over and she nestled in with him, face to face.

A minute passed.

{ Meredith? }

"Yeah?"

{ Let's run away together like Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. }

"Run away?"

{ Let's go to Europe and just disappear. }

He said nothing; instead he started to silently stroke her hair.

{ Meredith, it's just too much. I can't handle it: the Wraith, the Replicators, the hybrid. I'm overwhelmed. }

He tried to encourage her. He said softly, "Kit, I am sure that one day you will kick their butts, just like you did the Goa'uld on Earth."

{ No, I can't do it.. }

"C'mon, you're Supergirl, remember?"

{ No I am not. I am not invulnerable and I don't have unlimited powers. I'm just a pre-Ascendant who is full of cheats and tricks, nothing more. }

"Even so, I know you can stop them. I'll help. We'll all help. Together."

{ Meredith, you expect too much of me. I'm only a security guard, the night watchman who was left behind to forever patrol the hallways of a dead city. I was never trained to do any of this! }

{ Bassara.. }

{ Let's run away. Let's find a place where there are no monsters and go there. }

"Well, Europe is out. Now that you kicked the Goa'uld off Earth the Ori are probably going to invade Earth soon."

{ Gee, thanks for reminding me. Another enemy, and I'm responsible for it. }

"Don't be. You didn't know about the Ori's non-aggression pact with the Goa'uld until after you whomped them. Still, you won't run away and hide. I know you too well, Kit."

{ In that case I'm going to need help, a really strong ally. }

"Is that why you've been recruiting helpers like Ronon and Maybourne?"

{ Partly, but I need a much stronger one. }

"Like who?"

{ I don't know yet. All I know is that the Ascended, the _Vigilante_ , won't lift a finger to help me, and I don't know where else to turn. }

"Well, just remember that you have me and everyone else in Atlantis. Don't forget that."

{ I know.. }

"You are never alone."

{ Thank you, my love. }

 _I am never alone._

She pulled him in and held him, thinking about what he said.

* * *

"Hi, my name is Harry Maybourne and I am an alcoholic*."

"Hi Harry" "Howdy Harry" "Yo Harry"

Maybourne was sitting on a folding chair that was arranged in a semicircle with several other chairs in the mess hall. The rest of them were occupied by military men. The Guardian was sitting discretely behind them watching the meeting a few yards back at an empty table.

Evan Lorne said cheerfully, "Harry, welcome back. So you are on week two now. How well did you do this past week?"

"I stayed sober. No slips. I did smoke up my last pack of cigs though."

Lorne understood, "Substitution. That's normal."

"The cigs calmed my jitters, but..", he paused.

"But?"

"It didn't really help."

"Why not?"

"The booze helps me forget. The cigs don't."

"They help you forget."

"Yeah.. the guilt, the depression," He paused again, "The fact I feel empty, hollow."

"So you feel hollow inside."

Maybourne looked down, "Yeah."

Lorne addressed the whole group, "I think we all felt that way at one time or another when we dealt with our addictions. We felt disconnected, separated. It happens when we break our connection with Him and instead we try to run and hide with alcohol and drugs. It can be other addictions too: video games, gambling, pornography, promiscuous sex, they are all substitutes, all trying to fill that empty hole in our lives. It never works because it never is enough.

"The Lord says that we are not to lose heart, but rather be renewed day by day**. We are spiritual beings, created in His image, and it is that spiritual being that dwells within us that connects us to Him***. We fail because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak*4, which is why we so often fall back so easily into our addictions."

"So what do we do?"

"To fight that we have to establish and maintain that connection with Him, and we do that by putting on a new 'self', a transformed spirit, which is renewed daily in the image of our Creator*5. One of the best ways to do that and maintain that connection is through prayer, that amazing two-way backchannel that secretly connects us to Him in the privacy of our own thoughts..."

The meeting ended. By mutual consent the Guardian was assigned as Maybourne's sponsor, the person who was responsible for checking up on his sobriety. Officially only another addict was supposed to do that, but he readily agreed to let her assume that role for himself, and given her mental abilities so did Lorne.

She also volunteered for another reason, a very secret one.

She wanted someone to check up on her too, someone to whom she could confess her own private obsessions and temptations.

It couldn't be McKay. He still didn't fully understand her, not in that way. Only Maybourne had learned of her deepest fears and secrets, exposed accidentally during the mind scan, the ones that no other human could understand.

* * *

Sheppard opened the doors to the conference room. He seemed surprised when he saw that it was already occupied with the Guardian, Teyla, Ronon, and Harry Maybourne all seated around the conference table. They were all holding playing cards.

The Guardian lowered her card hand and frowned at Sheppard, "John, we are having a private meeting."

Sheppard smiled sheepishly, "Oh, hey, Genie, I'm sorry. I didn't know the room was occupied." He glanced behind himself, "I was just gonna radio some of my men to come in here for a quick meeting with me about what supplies they wanted to requisition..."

"John, I reserved this room days ago. It is on the published schedule."

"Oh, it was? I'm sorry." He looked at the table. "Hey, are you guys playing cards?"

"Yes. Harry is teaching us how to win at poker."

Maybourne explained, "I'm showing them how to read tells - body expressions, facial tics, changes in breathing - that can reveal if your opponent is holding a high hand or not."

Teyla spoke up, "The game of poker is similar to a popular card game for gambling that is commonly played in bars and inns across the Pegasus Galaxy. Mr. Maybourne is showing us how to not just beat an opponent, but to also bankrupt them..."

Sheppard caught on, ".. so you can threaten to break their thumbs if they don't pay up."

Ronon added dryly, "Or other body parts."

Sheppard nodded, "Yep. You threaten them, then you pump the mark for information in lieu of money. Good info-gathering technique."

Teyla agreed, "Yes, it is an excellent method."

"Harry, that's great you're teaching them."

Maybourne shrugged, "Basic spycraft 101."

Sheppard started to sit down with them, "Say, I'm pretty good at playing poker myself. I could show you some tips."

The Guardian's frown deepened, "Sheppard, this is private."

"But.."

"You know that poker tournament that is coming up next week? I believe that you are the favorite to win it. I intend to beat you."

"Without cheating?"

"Without cheating."

"That's great! It'll be fun."

"John, please go."

Sheppard stood and flapped his arms, "Hey, I offered to help..."

"You can close the doors behind you."

"All right, fine, be that way. After I whip your butt come see me and I'll show you how it's done."

"If you win, I will be sure to do that."

"Good." He pointed at her, "It's a date then, you and me."

"If you win. Goodbye, John."

"Bye, Genie." He left.

{ Is he gone yet? }

The Guardian listened mentally, { Yes, he is gone now. }

Maybourne sighed, { That was no accident. }

{ No, it wasn't. }

Maybourne tossed the cards aside and clasped his hands together. "All right, now where was I before we got interrupted?"

Teyla said, "You were explaining about 'cells'."

"Oh, right, as I was saying, we are going to use a cell structure, with each cell consisting of 4-5 agents. The cells are connected like a lattice."

He looked around the table, "We are the members of cell 1, the top cell. Teyla, you will be the leader of cell 2 at New Athos. You will be responsible for recruiting your members there. It is important that you do not tell any of us the names or identities of the members you recruit."

Ronon nodded, "I get it. If anyone gets captured and interrogated they can betray only their own cell."

"That's right. The leaders can betray two cells, but it stops there. Leaders should be chosen who can resist interrogation for that reason."

Teyla asked, "How will we know whom to trust when we recruit?"

"Well, that will depend on your knowledge of your friends and acquaintances, your past history with them, word of mouth from others you trust, and your own instincts."

The Guardian offered, "Harry, I would like to make it a requirement that I must first scan all recruits before we accept them, at least for the uppermost cells."

"Sara, thanks. I was hoping you'd volunteer."

"Gladly."

"Fantastic. You will need to go off-world to meet them, either in disguise or using your inviso-cloak. Only the uppermost cells can know your real identity so you will usually be in disguise. Try to scan the candidates without them realizing it. Just meet them randomly or walk near them in public."

"Understood."

He addressed everyone at the table, "We can never risk anyone in our spy network knowing the gate address of Atlantis. Only the members of cell 1 will have that information..."

The planning meeting continued like this for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

It was well past midnight. Sheppard was creeping down the darkened hallway in his bare feet. He opened the door to the suite and slipped inside.

Elizabeth Weir was in bed waiting for him.

She asked anxiously as he closed the door, "Did anyone see you?"

Sheppard slipped into bed with her, admiring her blue nightie as he re-assured her with his boyish charm, "Will you stop worrying? I've been sneaking into girls' dorms since college. Good grief, if I can't manage to sneak down a hallway at night unseen I'll turn in my Special Forces ribbons."

He pulled a small white crystal out from under his t-shirt. It was tied to a red string around his neck. "Besides, Genie gave me this, remember? How it masks the city lifesign detectors so McKay won't see me in the scanner logs?"

"That's all well and good. But John, it still worries me that she knows."

"Relax, will yah? She's fine with it."

"John, she shares that mental link with McKay, that 'Bond' connection. Doesn't that mean that anything she knows he will know too?"

"No, I asked her about it. She told me that the Bond shares surface thoughts, feelings, and ambient mental state. She said that she can compartmentalize her mind if there's something she doesn't want to share with him. McKay still can't do that. He even sometimes has what she calls 'thought leaks'."

"That doesn't seem fair to me. She knows everything about him, but he doesn't know everything about her."

He shrugged, "Hey, that's the way it should be. A woman should always remain a mystery."

She wrapped her arms around him, "Oh yes, I agree. We should always be a mystery." She kissed him.

"Mmm."

Sheppard was grateful.

 _Genie, thank you for telling me._

He knew that Elizabeth would never have dared to cross the line with him. Not on her own. She had believed that doing so would take unfair advantage of her authority over him.

And he would never have dared cross the line with her either.

Not on his own.

Not unless he was certain.

Genie had revealed it to him just before they thought they were going to die, where in that shared end-of-life experience they had bonded in the way that only two soldiers could during battle: Sharing the foxhole together, waiting for the next shell to explode and obliterate them. The experience had made them closer than friends, although they remained platonic. It was in those final moments that Genie had revealed Elizabeth's true feelings to him.

Sheppard gently stroked the back of the leader of the Atlantis Expedition. As he did so he said off-handedly, "I crashed Genie's secret pow-wow meeting."

Elizabeth sat up in bed, "So what did you find out?"

He sat up too. "Maybourne is scheming something. Apparently it's members only. They did a good job hiding it with a fake poker tutorial."

"John, that worries me. The Guardian is meeting secretly with people who are not members of the Expedition. She's hiding something from us."

"She's not hiding anything. That meeting was scheduled in advance on the public calendar as a private meeting."

"But..."

"Private is not hiding. There's a difference. If she was hiding they'd sneak up on the rooftop or something. All she is doing is withholding certain information from us, and putting it on the public calendar means she's letting us know that, openly. Probably for our protection."

"Our protection?"

"Yeah, probably for the same reason why Ronon works for her directly. He can do things, bust heads, deal with situations, stuff that would get us in trouble with the IOA if we did it ourselves."

"John.."

"Sometimes it's better not to know."

"John, I just don't like it when someone is keeping secrets."

"You mean like us?" He gave her a boyish grin.

She gave him an exasperated look, "You are so annoying sometimes."

"Heh."

"I give up! It's hopeless arguing with you!"

He grinned, "I win again."

She glared at him, pulling his t-shirt towards her. "Shut up and let me punish you."

"Mmm..." The kisses intensified.

After a minute she pulled back, "See? Now I win."

"Yes, ma'am.."

He rolled on top of her.

".. you win."

* * *

A couple days later the Guardian was deep under the North Tower with Carson Beckett. She had pulled up the floor hatch for one of the yeast vats.

"I just don't understand it." The Guardian dipped a ladle into the gray mash and pulled up a dripping glob of it. She offered the ladle to Beckett, "Here, taste this."

Beckett reluctantly took a sip. He made a face, "Acht, this is awful."

"See what I mean? That metallic taste? It's getting even worse now."

He spit it out. "I canna believe you actually eat this dreadful concoction."

"Carson, it is very nutritious. One cup can feed a normal human for a day. I did an analysis and I know it's safe to eat despite the metallic taste. Whatever do you think might be causing it?"

"Hmm, let me think." He looked down into the chamber, "Well, for starters I can see that those blades act as fine agitators. They ensure that your wee yeast beasties get plenty of oxygen, so it's not a case of anaerobic metabolism, and I am certainly glad of that."

"Really? Why?"

"Yeast without oxygen is great way tah ferment alcohol." He chuckled, "I bet this stuff would make a fine batch of hootch."

"I suppose it could. But what is causing the metallic taste?"

"Well, the yeast are using oxygen in aerobic metabolism to feed on basic organic compounds, mostly monosaccharides. The result is a lot of carbon dioxide, water, and heat. It also makes the batch slightly acidic."

"Hmm. I wonder if the acid is doing something..."

 _"Guardian this is Weir, please respond."_

The Guardian adjusted her earpiece. "Yes, Doctor?"

 _"We have an emergency. Please come to the hangar right away."_

She stood up, "What happened?"

 _"Doctor McKay just came back from P49-M87. He is declaring an emergency."_

McKay cut in, _"Sara, get up here!"_

"I am on my way."

* * *

The Guardian rushed up to the hanger where she saw McKay barking instructions to several people next to a parked jumper. She noticed that the front end of the jumper had a dent in it. She saw a corresponding scuff mark on the wall of the hanger next to it.

She was upset, "Rodney, did you damage that jumper?"

He turned, "Yeah I did. My flying sucks, sue me. Look, I returned through the space gate as fast as I could. I had to first send Teyla back to the cave with the jumper's emergency supplies. I left Conan the Barbarian to watch the portal."

The Guardian was confused. "Cave? Portal? What is going on?"

McKay had already explained the situation to the others surrounding him, but he took a deep breath and did it again for her, this time even more quickly. "Sara, I spotted some strange energy readings from orbit so we went down to investigate and found a cave with a man-sized portal inside with a bunch of Ancient writing next to it. I translated the words 'welcome' and 'ascension'. I put a camera on a stick and poked it through the portal's barrier then pulled it back. The camera showed that the cave opened up to the outside, so Sheppard volunteered to go through first, and it sucked him right in. It almost sucked in the rest of us too. He's trapped on the other side."

"Could you hear him? Did he use his radio to contact you?"

"Neither. Look, I poked the camera through the portal's barrier for only about 3 seconds. Sara, it's a time dilation field."

She stared at him.

She said simply, "Faster or slower."

"Faster."

"By how much?"

"The camera recorded almost two hours of video. The time ratio is about 2000 to 1." (*6)

She refused to believe it. "That's impossible. Time Acceleration Chambers don't go that fast."

"Well, this one does. After I sent Teyla back with the emergency supplies I dusted off in the jumper by myself and flew a pass overhead. It's a caldera about 10 kilometers wide. I don't know if the Ancients built the crater or if the rim formed as a result of the time dilation field."

The Guardian muttered, "2000 to 1..." She looked up at him, "My Time Acceleration Chamber typically ran at 30 to 1. It's max rate is only 60 to 1, and that took a good bit of power. Rodney, the power requirement for a field that fast and covering that much area has to be incredible."

He nodded at her, "It's a ZPM. Has to be."

"At 2000 to 1, yes. It means that one hour of time passing out here is equivalent to...", She calculated, "Three months. Rodney, we have to hurry!"

"Tell me about it!" He turned back to face the group, "C'mon people, now listen up! Find as many spare battery packs as you can, and then get a bunch of..."

McKay continued to bark out his instructions. The group broke up as McKay and the Guardian scrambled downstairs to the main lab with McKay continuing to yell orders into his headset.

* * *

 _Day 125_

"Hello, John. You look well. I like the beard."

Sheppard threw his hands out wide, "Genie, what took you so damn long? It's been four months!"

"John, I got here as fast as I could."

"Well, thank you for finally showing up." He saw that the Guardian was carrying a large overstuffed white duffel bag. "Look, I hope you brought me some food, something that has some meat in it. Please tell me you brought some MREs? A ham sandwich? Anything."

She dropped the duffel bag on the grass. "I brought you 40 kilos of concentrated dry yeast mix, and there's more back at the cave."

"Yeast.. you brought yeast?"

"John, we thought you were starving, living off wild berries and insects. I brought the most concentrated and nutritious food source we had on hand."

"Oh, wonderful. These people are all vegetarians, and I am sick of eating rabbit food. Man, I was hoping you'd brought some fried chicken or maybe a nice sirloin.."

The Guardian looked surprised, "There are other people here?"

"Yeah, there's a whole village on the other side of these woods." He started to dig in to her duffel bag. He pulled out a battery pack. "What else do you got in here?"

"I brought a pair of handheld energy scanners, one handheld bioscanner, extra radios, a dozen spare battery packs, emergency blankets, a med kit, and P90 clips. I left other less critical supplies back at the cave for a second trip. We can use the energy scanners to locate the ZPM that is powering the barrier and deactivate it."

"Good."

There was a deep growling noise from the treeline. The Guardian whirled around in surprise. She tightened her cape and pulled up her hood, crouching in her battle stance. "John, I can't see or smell anything. Do you know what that is?"

He peered at the treeline, "Some kind of invisible monster. I fought it twice."

"You did? Did you run away?"

"No, I fought it to, well, a draw."

"A draw?" The Guardian gave him an annoyed look and stood up straight, "Then we have nothing to worry about."

Suddenly a shimmer emerged from the woods and ran towards them, growling like a beast.

The Guardian yelled, "It's cloaked! Get back!"

She activated her own thermo-optic camouflage and charged at it. Sheppard saw a whirl of shimmers. Growls and snarls filled the air, followed by thumps and whacks from the trading of heavy blows. He heard a particularly heavy 'thunk' sound and one of the shimmering shapes flew backwards into a tree trunk, hitting it hard with a loud impact of exploding wood. The Guardian's cammo disengaged and she fell to the base of the tree.

Sheppard yelled, "Genie!" He ran to her without regard for his own safety. Meanwhile the beast silently withdrew back into the forest.

He saw that the Guardian was unconscious with a serious head wound. He wiped away the blood that was dripping down the front of her face. He checked her vitals, then he lifted her up and carried her back to the village.

* * *

The Guardian woke up in a single wooden bed. She saw a little girl with pigtails moving her hand slowly back and forth above her forehead. A soft glow was emanating from the girl's hand.

Sheppard was sitting on a stool on the opposite side of the bed, "Hey, Genie, how you feelin'?"

The girl withdrew as the Guardian sat up in bed. She gently touched her forehead, "I feel perfectly fine. I cannot sense any injury to me at all." She turned toward the young girl, "Did you heal me?"

The girl nodded quickly, "Your head was broken. I fixed it."

"What?"

Sheppard said quietly, "You hit a tree trunk pretty hard. It caused a nasty skull fracture."

"A skull fracture?"

"Hey, you oughta see the tree. Or what's left of it."

She remembered her battle with the beast. The beast was stronger than she had expected, moving incredibly fast, and she was unable to sense its mind to anticipate and block its strikes. "I couldn't read its mind.."

"No? So you couldn't cheat for once."

"No, I couldn't. It was cloaked too." Only her one-second precog alerts kept her alive. It kept triggering over and over, but it was happening so often that she was losing track of which events were real and which were events that hadn't happened yet. "I foresaw it throwing me so I activated my face shield, but I was so disoriented and frazzled that I must have forgotten to turn on the inertial dampening too."

"So your forehead whiplashed into the shield that was protecting your face when you hit the tree."

"I think so, yes. It was a stupid error."

"Well, that was a nasty head crack. At first I thought you weren't gonna make it, but Hedda here healed you as good as new."

"My younger sister is a gifted healer." The Guardian turned and saw a young woman wearing a simple farming dress in earth tones. "I am Teer." She gestured at a man in brown work clothes standing next to her. "This is my brother, Avrid."

He bowed slightly, "Pleased to meet you."

Sheppard explained to the Guardian, "Teer predicted your arrival. That's why I went out to meet you."

"She knew?"

Avrid spoke up, "My sister can see the future. Her predictions always come true."

The Guardian marveled at the group, "You are all pre-Ascendants. Is everyone in this place like you?"

Sheppard nodded, "Yep, the whole village is like that. Not everyone has the same combination of powers you have, and some, like Hedda, have powers that go way beyond even yours."

"You are all Lanteans."

Teer explained, "We were at one time, long ago*7. We had heard the stories and songs about the sanctuaries, the protected havens that were made to prepare oneself for ascension, so we searched to try to find one. Eventually we found this place, and it is here we sought refuge to escape the Wraith."

Sheppard added, "They don't have calendars here, but there is no way they've been here for millennia. I'm guessing that we are actually inside of some kind of Time Retardation Field where time slows down a lot."

The Guardian blinked, "Uh..."

Teer approached Sheppard and said appreciatively, "John Sheppard will guide us all to ascension. He is the Key that will enable us to leave our physical bodies and become pure energy." The Guardian heard the capital letter K in her words.

Then she turned to face the Guardian, pointing a finger at her, "You should not be here. You prevent us from ascending."

The Guardian was confused, "I'm sorry?"

"You are the Obstacle that prevents us from achieving ascension." Again the Guardian heard the capital letter O.

The Guardian spoke quickly, "No, I am happy for you. Really, I am. I think it's wonderful what you are doing here. I admit that I cannot ascend myself, but I have no reason to try to stop you from doing it. I respect what you are attempting to achieve here, and I will do everything I can to help you."

"John will lead us to the path. You hinder us, make us leave the path."

Sheppard spoke up on the Guardian's behalf. "Look, Genie won't do anything to harm you or your plan. I mean it. She's the nicest person you'll ever meet unless you are a Wraith. Now, she might seem a little shy or standoffish around strangers, and her table manners leave something to be desired, but otherwise she is really a wonderful person. She's saved my life a bunch of times. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her."

Teer was staring off into space. She whispered to herself, "That is not true."

Sheppard heard her, "Hey! She's a good person, and I'll vouch for her any day of the week!"

He had misunderstood. Instead she said simply, "You are the Key. She is the Obstacle." She turned and walked out.

Avrid tried to make apologies for his sister, "I'm sorry about that. It's just that when she makes a prediction like that she can sometimes be, well, impolite about it."

The Guardian dismissed his apology as unnecessary, "It's quite all right."

She looked up at them, "My energy level is low and I'm more than a little hungry, so I was wondering if.."

Sheppard smiled, "They're gonna serve dinner within the hour. Let's get you cleaned up and we'll all eat together."

Hedda looked at Avrid, who turned and said reluctantly to Sheppard, "Uhm, I am very sorry to tell you this, but your Guardian will not be welcome at our supper table."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Teer has warned us about the, uh, Obstacle for a long time, that she will prevent our ascension. She said it would be best if we limit our contact with her as much as possible."

Sheppard got angry, "What? Look, if she's not invited to eat with us.."

"John, I said it's quite all right."

"No it isn't! If she's not invited to eat with us then I'm not going either. I'm staying with her right here."

Avrid looked uncomfortable, "Teer says you should avoid contact..."

"Well, screw that! Genie, you can stay with me in my cottage. I'll go get us some grub and be right back."

Avrid offered, "I will be happy to get some food for both of you. Come, Hedda, let's go."

Hedda looked up at Avrid, then she ran and gave the Guardian a hug. She ran back to Avrid's side before the Guardian could say anything, and they both left.

Sheppard plopped himself back on the stool. "Who the hell do they think they are? It's like an Amish shunning or something."

The Guardian looked down, "John, I told you that I'm quite used to it. It happened to me a lot when I was growing up."

"It did?"

"Yes, my father sometimes let me out of the Time Acceleration Chamber. When I was introduced I could sense the hidden mockery by some and the pity from others. To them I was a freak. The other children bullied me..."

"Hey, you are not a freak, and you aren't a kid anymore. These people are the ones acting like kids. It's stupid. Tomorrow we'll go find the ZPM and get the hell out of here."

"John, that's the other thing. This whole place is one giant Time Acceleration Chamber. I brought two portable energy scanners so we can both search for the ZPM that is powering this place."

"Good, two scanners will cut our search time in half. Wait, acceleration? You mean.."

"I am sorry, John, but it has been only an hour and a half since you left Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla back at the cave entrance."

He stared at her. "Tell me you're kidding."

"I wish I was. Rodney estimated the time acceleration factor is about 2000 to 1."

"That's impossible. These people have been here since the Lantean-Wraith war. That was 10,000 years ago. That would be 20 million years! That's crazy!"

"I agree. I've been thinking about it." After her own Time Acceleration Chamber was stolen, she had conducted extensive research into the theory of time acceleration and time retardation. "You see, if the power source driving a time acceleration field nears depletion, the temporal field can become, well, erratic."

"What do you mean by 'erratic'?"

"When the power level starts to drop it becomes unstable. There can be sudden leaps in the passage of time, discontinuities, sort of like an elastic band snapping and overshooting. This whole place could have catapulted forward 10,000 years in the blink of an eye. I think it has already happened at least once, and it will likely continue to happen a few more times until the ZPM dies."

"You mean.."

"John, it could happen again at any moment. When we escape we might find that thousands of years have passed on the outside."

"No way."

"Yes way. We might find that everyone we know: Rodney, Elizabeth, everyone, will have been dead for thousands of years."

"We gotta find that ZPM."

"We will. We're losing sunlight. We'll start the search first thing tomorrow."

"Right."

She saw the second empty bed. He noticed it, "Genie, I can sleep outside somewhere.."

"No, this is your cottage. I'll go."

"You are *not* sleeping outside. Nobody else will take you. You are sleeping here for the night and that's final."

"Are you sure you won't mind?"

"Of course not. We did it together at the Tower, you remember? It's fine. I got two single beds, and we can put up a curtain or something."

"All right, we'll work it out somehow." She made a small grin, "Don't worry, I trust you. So does Rodney."

Sheppard was nervous, "Uh, great. Look, I know this cottage is kind of small..."

She looked around, "It's nice and cozy. I like it. The quilt blanket is nice and heavy too. That's good because I'll need it to retain my body heat." She gave him a coquettish look, "By the way, who removed all my clothes?"

"They did. Not me. Them. The girls I mean."

She pulled up the quilt and smiled at him.

Sheppard stammered, "Look, your battlesuit was all bloody and needed cleaning so they t-took it off. The girls left you a change of clothes on the ottoman."

"Oh good, I'll try them on.."

"No! Not yet! You just stay in bed, okay? Don't get up yet."

She was teasing him, "Why not?"

"Look, I'm going to just step outside for a bit. Try to find Avrid, bring some food back."

"Thank you, John."

He left.

After she confirmed that he was indeed gone, she got up and immediately went to her duffel bag. She checked that the two handheld energy scanners were still inside. She also found her tiara and put it on.

Did they scan her mind? She didn't think so, not deeply anyway. She would have sensed it.

She sighed to herself. She was indeed the Obstacle. McKay wanted her to grab the ZPM and bring it back to him. If she did that the Sanctuary would be vulnerable to the Wraith. She put on the simple farmers' dress that was laying on the ottoman and sat on her bed, trying to think.

The first thing she intended to do tomorrow was return to the cave and pick up the rest of the supplies. She would set up the large whiteboard that Rodney pushed through ahead of her and write a message that she had found John alive, well, and safe.

Weir had insisted on returning in the jumper with McKay's team, so the Guardian knew that Weir and McKay were now standing side by side just outside the entrance. McKay was holding his camera-on-a-stick, counting from 1 to 30. Upon reaching 30 he would poke it through and take a quick snapshot of the whiteboard and pull it back. She estimated that would happen some time late tomorrow evening.

She decided not to tell them about the erratic power source that might fling her and Sheppard thousands of years into the future.

It was because she felt that there would be no point.

* * *

 _Day 133_

The Guardian tromped out of the woods and met up with Sheppard just outside the village. She was still holding her energy scanner. "I checked grid reference G8. Nothing."

Together they had searched over 30 square miles inside of the caldera, but they could find no sign of the energy device that powered the Time Acceleration Field.

Sheppard was not ready to give up yet. "Let's search again. Maybe we missed it."

* * *

 _Day 140_

"John, I'm sorry."

"Let's check one more time."

"No, the scanners would have found it by now. We've walked through every acre of this crater and there's just no sign of it. We need to conserve our remaining batteries."

"I don't get it. It has to be in here."

"Either it's shielded.."

".. in which case we are screwed."

".. or it is using a power generation method that our scanners cannot detect.. "

".. in which case we are still screwed."

Silence.

"Genie, are you sure it's inside the field?"

She nodded, "Rodney said his jumper was picking up some odd energy readings when they first arrived. It seemed to be strongest when he flew overhead. The jumper's scanners are more sophisticated than these handheld ones, but they are too bulky to fit through the portal."

"So what next?"

"Well, Zelenka had an idea about lowering a tethered scanner package down into the field from a hovering jumper to try to get more specific readings that way."

"Give McKay and Zelenka a week and I'm sure they'll find a way to do it. Oh wait, that's over forty years in here."

"John.."

He kicked a small rock, "Dammit!"

"We're not giving up."

"Okay, Genie, so now what?"

"Uh.."

"You're one of the McKay genius twins, right? So crank up that egghead brain of yours and think of something!"

"Well.."

"Maybe we should ask for McKay to come in? You two work best as a team."

She glared at him, "Absolutely not! We cannot risk both of us getting trapped in here!"

He looked down. "Nevermind. Sorry, I'm just getting a little cranky."

The Guardian was also becoming upset, "How can you even suggest that? I made it crystal clear to Rodney that I would kill him if he tried to rescue me like that. Weir agreed that I should be the one to go in. Unlike you humans, I can handle being stuck in here for a decade, a century, even 1000 years. I don't age so it's fine. It's why I volunteered, and like I said, Weir backed me up."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, sheesh."

"Rodney will have photographed the whiteboard with my message on it by now, so they will know that we are alive and safe. Weir isn't going to let Rodney go running in here." She knew that Weir had put a pair of marines at the entrance to stand guard just in case.

"Well that's it then. We're on our own."

"If this drags on Rodney and I will exchange messages, share some ideas. We will team up but it will just take longer."

"So what do we do in the meantime?"

She tried to think. "Hmm. We haven't tried climbing up the crater rim yet."

"Actually I did try that before you got here. Those ridges are way too steep."

"For you maybe, not for me."

* * *

 _Day 152  
_

Sheppard was munching on an apple when he saw the Guardian trudge into the village. Her battlesuit was soaked in black bat guano. She pointed a finger at John and glared, "Don't say a word."

He pretended not to notice. "So, did you manage to climb into that cave way up on the south rim?"

"Yes. I found a way in."

"I see."

"It was full of bats."

"Bats."

"The bats swarmed me."

"Ah."

"I lost my balance."

"Did you?" He was biting his lip.

"Yes."

"Oh my. Very sorry to hear that." He bit down tighter.

"This was your idea, John."

"I guess it was."

"Stop smirking, John."

"I'm not." He thought his lip was going to draw blood.

"I fell in."

She looked like Al Jolson in blackface. He could see where she had cleaned the bat guano off her eyelids.

He started cracking up.

"Yeah, laugh it up, John. Just for that I'm going to give you a *really* good nightmare tonight."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He tried valiantly to stifle his giggle fit. "Look, just go around back and take off that guano-encrusted battlesuit and I'll draw a bath for you. After that I'll go wash your suit in the river. I'll make sure it is extra clean, so no giving me nightmares, okay?"

She harrumphed and stomped off behind the cottage to strip.

* * *

 _Day 264_

"I am so sick of rabbit food."

"I'm so sorry, John. I feel bad about it. The biggest animals I can find for you are only squirrels."

"What I wouldn't give for a nice juicy prime rib right now.."

"There just isn't any big game in here. I looked everywhere."

"Only squirrels. Hardly any meat on 'em and it's tough."

The Guardian thought a moment, "Wait, what about fish?"

Sheppard shook his head, "I tried that before you arrived. Rigged a fishing line, but the stupid fish won't take my bait."

"Hmm. Follow me."

She walked out to the edge of the lake shore. Curious, Sheppard followed. She removed her limiter and began to stare at the water. The wind was blowing inland. She raised her arms and thew them down.

There was a huge explosion in the water like a depth charge detonating. A wall of water shot skyward, and the wind blew it over them as Sheppard ducked.

They were now both soaked to the bone with cold lake water. Sheppard scowled while the Guardian tried to smile sheepishly, "Oops."

Dozens of freshwater fish, some rather large, fell from the sky. The Guardian clapped her hands in delight and started chasing the bigger ones as they flopped around on the ground in front of them.

That night Sheppard and the Guardian were sitting alone together at a campfire just outside of the village. She was busy eating her fourth cooked fillet. Meanwhile Sheppard had finished his two fillets and was staring at the burning embers, lost in thought.

The Guardian put down her skewer. "Are you sure it is okay if I eat the rest of them?"

"Yeah. I'm stuffed. You can always blow up some more tomorrow."

"Sorry about that."

"Why didn't we think of this earlier?"

"We were both fixated on finding big game animals to hunt. There are simply no large animals in here."

"Nope."

"I wonder if the beast is the cause of that?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. We haven't seen it since it first attacked you. Maybe it's gone?"

"Possibly."

They stared at the campfire in silence.

Eventually she said quietly, "Something about that fight still bothers me."

"It does? How come?"

"You were there. You saw the fight."

"Yeah. Say, explain to me how come I could see you? It was a blurry shimmer but you were definitely noticeable when you moved."

"My thermo-optic cammo is designed for fighting the Wraith. The Wraith dislike bright sunlight, which is why cullings always happen at night or in the evening. I was fighting in broad daylight in an open meadow, moving against a backdrop of trees. If I move in bright sunlight against a complicated background you can see me if you look carefully."

"That beast shimmered the same way."

"It did."

Sheppard sat up straight, "Genie, tell me the truth."

She looked at him, "The truth? What do you mean?"

"Be honest. Were you fighting yourself?"

She looked down. "I had wondered that too. I could tell that it was wearing a cloak and hood that seemed similar to mine. But it didn't fight like me. It fought like a wild animal would. It displayed no martial arts technique at all. It was just flailing at me."

"You mean like a tiger?"

Her eyes narrowed at him. She hated to be reminded of her _tigris felesium_ engrams. "No, John. It kept trying to grapple me. Tigers don't do that."

"Hmm. More like a bear then. And you couldn't sense its mind?"

"No. If it was wearing a limiter that would explain it."

"But don't you turn that thing off during combat? So you can sense the enemy's moves?"

"Of course."

"So wouldn't your doppelganger have done the same thing?"

"I see your point."

She looked at the fire some more. "That wasn't me."

"No, I agree. You weren't fighting yourself. Sorry for asking; I didn't mean to insinuate anything."

"No, I understand why you asked. To be honest, it felt more like a poorly made copy of myself, one that was physically much stronger and faster than me, but that had none of my combat skills or training."

"That thing had to be ten times stronger when you fought it compared to when I did. It would have slaughtered me."

"Apparently it adapts. It gets stronger against a tougher opponent."

"Yeah."

"Let's just be glad nobody has seen it for a long time."

* * *

 _Day 302_

The Guardian was in the cottage darning a worn spot on her white battlesuit with a sewing needle when Sheppard came in.

She put down the needle and smiled at him, "Welcome home, John. So how was your picnic with Teer?"

"Fine."

"Fine? Just 'fine'? That's all you have to say?"

"Yeah, it was fine."

"I think it was more than that, John."

"Well, she acted like it was a date."

She stood and walked over to inspect him. She sniffed his lips. "I smell lilacs."

"Okay, she tried to kiss me. I stopped her. Honest! I'm sorry!"

{ I believe you. I'm sure Elizabeth will too. So, did she confess to you? }

"Genie, why are you being so nosy?"

"You know I care about your well being."

"Yeah, well, she didn't say anything. She didn't have to."

"She didn't have to? I don't understand."

He looked down. "Look, she told me before you got here. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."

"Tell me what?"

"She had experienced a vision of me when she was a child, that I was to be her soulmate. She's been cherishing that mental image of me ever since. She's been in love with me since then too. You know she keeps saying that I am the 'Key', the one who will lead them all to ascension some day..."

"It's all right. You didn't need to tell me. I sensed her feelings for you right from the start."

"You did?"

{ Did you tell her about Elizabeth? }

"Not as such, no. I only told her I already had someone else."

"How did she take it?"

"Not well. She ran off crying. I feel like a total cad."

"John, it's not your fault."

"Yes it is. I should have told her sooner."

* * *

 _Day 505_

"Happy birthday John."

"Thanks."

"Why didn't you tell me this was your birthday last year?"

"Didn't seem important."

They were walking back to the cottage when Hedda ran up and gave John a wrapped present. He opened it, revealing the bouquet of wildflowers that she had picked for him. "Very nice, thank you." Hedda jumped up and gave him a big hug, which he returned.

When they reached the cottage, Sheppard began to search the kitchen cabinet for a flower vase. "You know, something just occurred to me."

The Guardian started to fold clothes in a laundry basket, "Hmm?"

"Hedda. She's still looks like a little kid."

"Yes."

"She looks exactly the same."

"Oh, you finally noticed that?"

"Yeah. Genie, she's not growing older. Nobody is."

"That's right, John. When a person reaches the pre-Ascendant state the aging process stops. That's why I don't age. I thought you knew that already."

He sat on his bed, looking dejected. "I guess I did. I just didn't realize.."

"Realize what?"

He looked at her. "I'm the only one that's getting older around here."

Her eyes widened, "I forgot about that. You'll grow old... No one else except you."

"It's okay."

She jumped up. "No it isn't! It is not okay! These are the best years of your life, and they're just passing you by!"

"I can handle it."

"Can you? I'm a Lantean. Waiting like this doesn't bother me. But this.. with you.. it does."

He stood up. "I said it's okay."

She could sense that he was lying. "It's weighing on you. I didn't realize..." She started to tear up, "I'm so sorry, John. This isn't fair for you. It's not fair at all."

"Well, what choice do I have?"

She started pacing. "We have to do something. This is wrong."

"Hey, maybe we should get out of here?"

She whirled back, "I know that! Don't be so facetious."

"Did you get another letter from McKay?"

She suppressed a sniffle, "Yes, a long one. Lots of theories. I wrote back my own ideas." She had switched to writing in Ancient because the script was more compact and could fit the limited space better on the whiteboard. She knew that Weir could translate it for McKay.

"He wants me to check if any caves have ferrous content that might be masking the energy scanners."

Sheppard nodded, "Good. We'll go check those caves on the south rim again."

She sat on Sheppard's bed next to him, "John, I feel terrible about this. Is there anything else I can do for you? Anything at all?"

Her limiter was up and she missed what John was thinking. "No, thanks. Let's get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."

* * *

 _Day 543_

The Guardian heard a knock on the cottage door. She opened it, "Hello, Avrid."

"Greetings." He offered her a covered wicker basket. "I brought you some lunch."

"Oh, that really isn't necessary. I was going to make something."

"Please take it, I insist."

"Why thank you." She took it. Normally Avrid came around to deliver the basket for dinner. Lunch was unusual.

He stood at the doorway. The Guardian decided to be gracious, "Won't you come in for a bit?"

"Uh, well, all right." He stepped in. He looked nervous.

Avrid was surprised to see Sheppard was sitting on the ottoman. He busy whittling a small piece of wood with a pocketknife. "Hey, Avrid."

Normally during this time of day Sheppard was outside. "Oh! Hello John. How are you faring today?"

He didn't look up from his wood project. "Just fine, same as always. Same as every day. You?"

"I am also well." After an awkward pause he added, "Uh, I suppose I should get going." He left.

John looked up from his carving. He was making a bishop piece. "Hmm."

The Guardian walked the basket over to the side table. "I know that 'hmm' John. What's on your mind?"

"Avrid."

"What about him?"

"He seems to be trying to find opportunities to be around you."

"So?"

"I saw him with Teer yesterday. They were talking in low voices."

"You did? What do you think they were talking about?"

He put down the chess piece and grinned, "I betcha he was asking his sister a question."

"A question? What kind of question?"

"The question that probably every brother has asked his older sister since the beginning of time."

"Which is?"

"How to approach girls. Or a particular girl."

"John, are you referring to me?"

"Well, who else? Hey, I'm just saying there aren't a lot of other choices for him around here."

"That's ridiculous. Avrid is simply a good friend. You know I love Rodney."

"He's a good guy."

"Besides, isn't Teer the one who always says that I am the Obstacle?"

The others were still limiting their contact with her, and she was still not welcome at the communal dinner table. However, some, like Avrid, did seem to be warming up to her.

"True. I'm just glad that Teer doesn't seem to mind her brother chatting you up."

The Guardian walked over to the ottoman and picked up one of the finished chess pieces. It was a white queen piece wearing a white robe and crown. "These are very nice." She peered at the piece. "John, is this supposed to be me?"

"Heh, you caught that. She's wearing your Queen of Ronimun getup. You like it?"

She turned it around in her hand and inspected it, "Yes. You have an excellent talent for carving."

She put it down and picked up the black queen. It was identical. She frowned and put it back down. He realized what she was thinking.

To distract her, he stood up and checked out the lunch basket. "Let's see what we got here. Ooh.. we got apples. Genie, you want one?"

"Oh yes."

"Catch!"

The distraction worked.

* * *

 _Day 672_

"Avrid did well in the chess tournament."

"Third place behind you and me. He's smarter than he looks."

They were sitting on the front stoop of the cottage. It was early in the morning. The ground was still wet from the night before, with small puddles dotting the gravel path out front.

Sheppard was picking his teeth with a toothpick. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen a good hard thunderstorm here."

"I doubt we ever will. It rains only at night anyway."

"Heh, it's just like Camelot then."

"Camelot?

"The musical."

"I don't follow."

He started to sing: _In Camelot the climate must be perfect all year / The rain may never fall till after sundown / By eight the morning fog must disappear / In short, there's simply not a more congenial spot than Cam-e-lot!_ "

She laughed, "Yes, I suppose this place is like Camelot then. No thunderstorms, no seasons, no winter."

"Same climate all year, warm but not too hot, and the sky is always sunny to partly cloudy."

"It's perfect. This is a paradise."

"Well, I am sick of it." He stood up unexpectedly.

She was surprised. "John?"

"Everybody just sits around. They meditate. They chant. Nothing happens, nothing changes. This isn't living."

She also stood up, "No, it's not fair. Especially for you."

"Genie.."

"Your life is passing you by.."

"Yeah, it is. I need to get back to Atlantis."

She approached him from behind. "I feel awful about it. I don't understand it. It's like we are stuck in a chess stalemate or something. No pieces are moving. No progress is being made."

"You still trading messages with McKay?"

"I haven't gotten another one yet. It's been less than two hours since the last one, eight hours total."

"Eight hours.. crap." He flapped his arms, "I can't believe this."

She turned away, "I'm responsible."

He approached her from behind and held her shoulders gently, "No, you're not. We talked about this. I'm the one who ran in here, remember? So it's my fault, not yours."

"It's not your fault."

He chuckled, "Hey, if you want to blame someone we can both blame McKay, right? When we get out you can give him one of your classic Rodney-I-told-you-so lectures for not reading the warning sign, heh."

"That's not funny, John."

"Look.."

"I'm the one preventing their ascension. It's me. Teer said so."

"Teer says a lot of things."

"John, she is a pre-Ascendant with precognitive ability. Those predictions are never wrong. No, I'm the Obstacle. It's my fault you're stuck here."

"Hey.."

"If I wasn't here, I know things would be different."

"Different, how?"

She thought a moment, "Teer said, 'We will all ascend together.' Remember?"

"Yeah, so?"

"What if she was including you?"

"Uh, I hate to break the news to you, Genie, but I'm not a Lantean. I'm a human. Only Lanteans go poof, not humans*7."

"But you have more Lantean genes than any other human in Atlantis. What if she intends to bring you along?"

"And leave you all by yourself? Are you kidding? No way. I ain't going nowhere without you."

She gave him a bitter smile, "Don't you see? That's why I am the Obstacle. We're all stuck here now thanks to me. We'll be in here forever, I just know it! I'll watch you age and hate myself every day because of it.."

He held her, "I won't leave you behind."

"And then what? What if they ascend without you? What happens when everyone else is gone?"

"Uh, well..." He was about to say something sardonic about Adam and Eve but he caught himself. This was no time for joking.

"John, I'm so sorry.. I'll do anything to fix this. Tell me what to do." Standing on the porch she cried into his shoulder bitterly.

He rocked her silently. "Shhh. It's okay. Don't cry. Shush."

They remained like this for a long time as he gently patted her back. He kept saying, "It's okay.. "

A few moments later there was a distant growl. They were both instantly alert. Sheppard ran onto the damp gravel path in front of the cottage and tried to peer into the woods beyond. At the same time the Guardian ran inside to don her battlesuit. It only took her a few seconds, but by the time she ran out again the beast was already gone.

She was alert and breathing fast as she tried to peer into the woods, "I don't see it anywhere. You said it never enters the village?"

He kept scanning the horizon, "That's what everybody tells me."

"I'll stand guard in case it comes back. Go warn the others."

"Right." Just then Teer and Avrid ran up. Avrid looked alarmed, "We heard a noise. Was it the beast? Has it returned?"

Sheppard turned behind him and checked the treeline again, "Don't worry. Whatever it was, it's gone."

Avrid put his hand over his heart, "Thank goodness. That thing almost killed me once."

"C'mon, let's go inside. It's safer there."

Nothing else happened that day.

* * *

 _Day 1031_

The Guardian flung open the door to the cottage and said breathlessly, "John, we got letters!"

Sheppard was sitting on the ottoman carving a wooden duck. She handed a sealed envelope to Sheppard with 'To John' written on it. She ran to her bed and sat on it with her own letter, 'To Sara'.

Sheppard moved and sat on the bed next to her. They made silly grins to each other, then by unspoken agreement they tore open the letters together and read them simultaneously.

She read her letter with excitement. McKay explained to the Guardian that he and Zelenka had dropped a scanner package tied to a tether into the barrier from a hovering puddle jumper. However, the cable had snapped due to the tidal forces at the event horizon, and they were unable to get any telemetry data. McKay said he was going to keep trying.

He also wrote something else. As she read it her demeanor changed. She lowered the letter from her hand.

Sheppard was reading his own letter quietly. He turned and asked, "Did he write seven too?"

"Yes, he did."

"That had to be Elizabeth's doing." Sheppard knew that Weir had written more condolence letters to bereaved families than he could count, including for those that were culled or who went on missions and just disappeared. She knew the regs, how after seven years MIA a spouse could petition for a certificate and move on.

Sheppard glanced over at her letter and saw the same wording. It was obvious to him that Weir had written it for both of them:

 _I love you, and I always will._

 _I'll keep waiting for you. I'll wait forever.  
_

 _But I love you so much that I will let you go._

 _Seven years is the prescribed period._

 _If you want to move on after that, I won't hold you. It's your life._

 _No, I won't hold you.  
_

 _When you are ready, move on. Be happy. It's all I want._

 _I love you._

The Guardian stared at the floor. She looked up again, her eyes defiant, "No. I'll never give up."

"I know. Me too." He started to read his letter again. "This looks like Elizabeth's doing. I think she told him."

She cried bitterly on the bed. This time Sheppard did not console her because it would have been awkward if he did.

Instead he went outside. He looked up at the stars overhead. He wondered idly how the day-night cycle worked. Did the constellations change with the seasons? Did the stars rotate? He wasn't sure.

He went back and sat on the porch.

She was a Lantean, an alien. She could wait for centuries.

But what about himself?

He would be hitting 40 in a few months.

He got up and cursed, kicking a rock.

He decided to jog around the village until he couldn't run anymore.

He kept it up until morning.

* * *

 _Day 1551  
_

"John, what did you put in that barrel?"

"Some of your dried yeast mix, plus water, barley, and hops."

"That barrel is sealed."

"Yeah."

"No oxygen."

"Yeah."

"Anaerobic metabolism."

"Yep."

"You're fermenting ethanol."

"Just like the Athosians do."

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon Genie. You didn't know? Where do you think Athosian Port comes from? The Athosians take your yucky yeast back to New Athos and they ferment it. It's primo stuff."

"Seriously? They've been abusing my wonderfully nutritious food source just to illicitly ferment ethanol? Nobody told me that!"

"Well, of course not. Why ruin a good thing?"

"Argh!"

* * *

 _Day 1584  
_

Sheppard was in the main meeting hall. "Okay everyone, we're gonna have a party tonight!" He cracked open the barrel.

The Guardian was concerned, "John, is this wise? Rodney warned about drinking ethanol."

"Genie, these people drop 'shrooms to get visions for crying out loud. It'll be fine."

He dipped a ladle and took a sip. He grimaced with satisfaction, "Woah. This is awesome. Better than the Athosian stuff. C'mon everybody, drink up." He started to pour servings into cups.

Avrid tasted his cup, then he chugged the whole thing down.

Sheppard was impressed, "Avrid, you dog."

Avrid looked at his empty cup. "Ow, this burns."

"Good. That means it's high quality."

Sheppard refilled his cup. Avrid asked, "John, what will this drink do?"

"It'll loosen you up, relax you. Help, uh, clarify your mind."

"It will?"

"Hey, I'm the Key. This is my prescription for you. Drink up!"

They all did.

He offered a cup to the Guardian, "Here you go."

"Rodney said I must never drink ethanol."

"How come?"

"Because ethanol is a drug that lowers inhibitions, suppresses judgement. With my powers that could be very dangerous."

He waved his own cup around the room, "Look, everyone else here is drinking, and they all have the same powers you do, if not even stronger. These are peaceful folk. So are you unless there's a Wraith. It'll be fine."

She looked at her cup.

"Trust me." He drank his cup.

She sighed and took a sip.

* * *

She giggled, "John, yoush are sooch a naughty boy."

They were both on the floor of the meeting hall, sitting with their backs against the wall, slumped together, shoulders touching.

He looked around the room, "Think I overdid it a little?" It was because everyone else in the room was already passed out.

"Oh yesh. Yoush always overdoes it."

"Maybe I did."

"Thish ish so naughty of you." She poked his shoulder and admonished him, "You're a bad boy. It's why the girls like yoush so much."

"Hmm? They do?"

She made an exaggerated nod, "Oh yesh, most of the girls on the base want to get into your pants. Green lust, I senshed it all the time."

He sat up, "Really? Which ones?"

She tsk-tsked him, "Now John. You know I'm not allowed to tell yoush that. It's a seekret."

She threw her head back and giggled again, "Effurybody wants you. Even me sometimes."

"Genie, you are definitely drunk."

"Come on, you're hawt. More than hawt."

"Genie.."

She poked his shoulder again. "I know you, John. Yoush can't hide it from me. They don't know you like I do, not even 'lizbeth."

"Maybe you should stop talking.."

"No! No! I know you! Yoush have a wall that nobody can breach, not even 'lizbeth."

"Yep, you're done for the night." He stood up and offered his hand. "Let me take you back to the cottage."

She pushed his hand away. "No! Hearsh me out! Ah cahn breach that wall and reach you. Ah can reach you, heal you."

"Genie.."

"Ahm the only one who cahn heal you. We both know it."

"Genie, get up." He pulled her up and she flopped into his chest.

She grabbed his shirt. "Look, I cahn't love you like I can Rodney, but I cahn reach you. Yoursh just too much a gentlee-mahn.."

He slowly walked her back to the cottage. She was leaning into him heavily, singing a strange Lantean dirge on a modal scale. It was probably off key but he wasn't sure.

He tucked her in bed. She smiled at him under the covers, "John, ah cahn heal you. Shtay with me tonight?"

"Goodnight, Genie." He stripped to his boxers and flopped into his own bed. He turned and faced the wall.

She was laying in a bed just a few feet away, snoring softly.

 _Stay with me tonight._

 _Let me reach you._

 _I'm the only one who can heal you._

She was so beautiful, so selfless, so giving. And she knew him, his innermost self, his deep secret desire for heroic self-destruction.

The temptation was so strong. He wanted healing.

His life was passing away. She felt responsible. She said she would do anything to help him.

She probably wouldn't even remember it in the morning..

He pulled a pillow down hard on his head and forced himself to sleep.

* * *

 _Day 1585_

"John, what are you doing?" The Guardian was nursing a bad headache. She couldn't remember anything from the night before.

She saw that he was busy chopping a log on the edge of the lakeshore. Avrid and two other men had previously pulled up a wooden cart that contained a long log, and together the three men had hefted the log into a V-beam.

"I'm building a sailing boat."

"A boat?"

"Yes."

"Whatever for?"

"To go on the lake."

"Why?"

"Because I want to." He kept chopping and did not face her.

She approached him from behind. "John, did something happen last night?"

"No. Nothing happened." More aggressive chopping.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" He kept chopping furiously at the log.

She stood back and looked at him. She could see that he was telling the truth.

She then looked at the log, and then the lake. The lake filled a good fraction of the crater, about two miles wide.

Sheppard took a break from his chopping, wiping his brow and pulling a slug of water from a canteen. Then he heard some chopping behind him. He turned and saw the Guardian chopping the log with his axe.

"Genie, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm helping you build your boat."

He frowned. He didn't want her help. It was the whole point of the exercise, distraction. "Aw, don't do that."

"We need to get out of this place as soon as we can. Before the ZPM snaps us forward in time."

"Genie, you're not making sense."

She stopped chopping and stood up straight, "I think I know where the ZPM is."

"You do? Where?"

She turned to face the two-mile wide lake.

Of course.

It was the last place anyone would look.

He asked, "Wait, are the energy scanners even waterproof?"

"They are. Once we find it I can dive underwater and fetch it from the bottom. I'm a good swimmer."

He made a silly grin, "Of course you are."

"Of course."

"It's because you cheat. Your shield can act like a diving bell."

"Yes, I cheat whenever I can."

"My god you're beautiful. Let's get to work!"

She handed him a second axe and he started chopping too. She said, smiling, "Now you sound like Rodney."

"The man is a lucky bastard."

More chopping, "No, I'm the lucky one."

"Well, let's get 'er done!"

* * *

 _Day 1610_

The Guardian surfaced from the water, gasping for air. Sheppard pulled her into the sailboat.

"Find anything?"

"No."

"This is the deepest part of the lake.."

"I reached the bottom, definitely close enough to pick up any signal. I'm sorry."

"Dammit."

* * *

 _Day 2308_

Sheppard entered the cottage, tired from a hard day's work plowing the fields.

A group hiding inside the cottage suddenly jumped out and yelled, "Happy birthday, John!"

He looked at everyone. "Surprise party.. hey."

The Guardian presented him with a birthday cake. She had gotten the chocolate cake mix and the birthday candles from the last supply drop six months ago. The frosting had the numerals "44" written on it.

He blew out the candles. Hedda giggled and hugged him. He thanked her for another present of wildflowers. Arvid slapped his back, and even Teer smiled.

"Thank you, everyone."

"Speech! Speech!"

"Uh, truly, this is an honor. You've all been so kind to me and Genie. I just hope I can continue to serve you all and help you find your path to ascension. Thanks again."

A cheer.

Afterwards Genie cleaned up. She said softly, "You never expected to live to see 40."

"To be honest, no, I didn't."

She walked over to him. "You have a bit of chocolate on your face." She picked it off his cheek and ate it.

He laughed, thinking of the first time he saw her eat chocolate a year ago, a Hershey Bar that came in a shipment courtesy of Rodney. She had never eaten chocolate before. She unwrapped a bar and screamed with delight and ate the entire package of chocolate bars on the spot, including his own portion, which she did not realize she had done until after it was too late.

She had apologized profusely. Secretly baking the chocolate cake was part of her making it up to him.

She smiled at him, taking the opportunity to look at his bearded face more closely. She saw that the color of the messy mop of hair on his head was lighter, and his skin had a leathery tan from all the work he did outside.

She touched his face again, "44 years. You don't look it."

"Well, I got good genes I guess."

She continued to study him. He returned the favor, admiring her creamy white skin. "Genie, you are always so pale. How come you never get a tan or even a sunburn?"

"I do get sunburned. Easily. It just heals right away. It consumes energy so I try to avoid too much sun." She was now regularly wearing her protective white sunhat when she went outside, delivered courtesy of Rodney.

She looked at him and frowned. "Hmm."

"What's the matter?"

"John, do you mind if I try something?"

"Try what?"

"I'd like to heal the sun damage to your face. It won't hurt."

"Go ahead."

She moved her right palm over his face, the palm glowing softly. After a minute his face lightened to its normal color that it had on Atlantis. She stood back.

Her eyes widened.

"Genie, what's wrong?"

"Oh my word. How did I miss this?"

"What is it? Tell me!"

"John, you are not aging."

"What?"

"You are now forty-four years old. There should be some sign of it. I should see some crows feet starting around your eyes or your mouth, some gray or thinning hair, something."

"Well, my hair's lighter.

"That's the sun. Your leathery skin too. It hid the fact that you aren't actually aging."

"You sure?"

"Yes. It must be this place, possibly a side effect of the time acceleration or maybe something else, I don't know."

She pulled away her hand from his face and marveled at him.

"I was so worried. The best years of your precious life were wasting away... I was wrong. It's not happening. This is amazing!"

"Genie, what does this mean?"

"It means we will be together for a long, long time."

* * *

 _Day 2410_

Avrid explained, "We took a vote. The Guardian is welcome. She can eat with us. I hope you will rejoin us at the table as well, John."

Sheppard sighed with relief, "Well it's about damn time."

Avrid looked down, "I'm sorry for the shunning."

Sheppard wondered, "What took you guys so long?"

Avrid felt ashamed, "Something is wrong. We meditate. We study. Nothing is happening. We are making no progress. Many of us feel it is because we have fallen from the path. We now feel that shunning is not the way to ascension. We regret what we did and hope you can forgive us."

"Well, good. You're finally getting a clue."

"Teer voted against it. She feels that the Guardian is still the Obstacle and that we should continue to avoid contact with her."

"That's tough. Let's eat."

* * *

 _Day 2555_

"Seven years."

"Seven years."

"I'm not giving up."

"Neither am I."

* * *

 _Day 2920_

Sheppard and the Guardian were sitting at a campfire just outside of the village.

"Thanks for the fish catch." Sheppard handed a skewer to the Guardian. Earlier that day they had hiked up to a river that fed into the main lake, where the Guardian caught several brilliantly colored rainbow trout.

The Guardian began to eat her fillet, "Mmm."

Sheppard looked up at the stars. "Same as always."

The Guardian followed his eyes up. She studied the heavens, "No, it's been rotating slowly."

"It has?"

"I think those are the real stars up there, or at least an accurate projection of them."

"You think?"

"It's only been a day and a half outside."

He picked up a rock and threw it. "A day and a half. This is stupid. Spinning our wheels, wasting our lives."

"Yes, I agree. I'm sorry. It's all my fault.."

"Stop that. Look, we gotta do something. Shake things up."

"John, I've been thinking about that." She slid over on the log closer to him, gazing into his eyes.

He started to feel uncomfortable. "Genie, I'm not giving up on Elizabeth."

"I'm not asking you to. No more than I would give up on Rodney."

"I know."

"I never will. I love him more than anything."

"I said I know. It's been eight years and we both stayed faithful. This test, it proves it."

She looked down. "John, I've been thinking..."

"About what exactly?"

"The future. Will we just stay like this forever? Just good friends, good companions? Is that all?"

"Genie, you're a great companion. You're the best companion a guy could have short of a wife. In fact, sometimes I think you *are* my wife; we just don't share a bed. And you're such a great conversationalist, never boring, always kind, and you're fun.."

"We can't stay like this. It's not right."

"So what are you thinking?"

"John, do you trust me?"

"Yeah. I do. With my life."

"You know that I love Rodney? And that I'll never stop loving him?"

"Of course."

"John, I've been thinking about what Teer said."

"What about it?"

"Her predictions. I've been going over them in my mind, over and over."

"Yeah, yeah, she predicts that she and I are gonna become soulmates, lovers. That is not happening."

She looked at him levelly, "Until that happens we will never leave this place."

"What are you suggesting? That I bail on Elizabeth?" He stood up. "No goddamn way!"

"John, she gave you explicit permission."

"Not happening!"

"Then we are stuck in here. All of us. Forever."

"The hell! I'm not cheating on Elizabeth. Certainly not with Teer. Look, if I was going to.."

He stopped talking. He looked away.

She looked down again. "I know." She knew his feelings.

He turned back. "Yeah, but what about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's so hard to read you. Women are supposed to be mysterious, but you take it to another level. Even when you were blind drunk you still hid yourself."

"I'm not hiding anything. I love Rodney. I'll never betray him. You know that."

"So you keep saying.."

"John!"

"Sara, why are you still wearing that tiara?"

"What? What do you mean?" She unconsciously touched it on her head.

"We've been in here for eight goddamn years and you almost never take it off. Why not?"

She explained bashfully, "Well, for your privacy of course. Your protection. I keep it at 90% unless there's a threat. It's the rules. You know that."

"Everybody in this place is a mind reader. They can dig into my head any time they please, I don't care. So why are you still wearing it?"

"For your privacy like I said."

"Liar. You're hiding."

"That's.. that's ridiculous. You can't read my mind. What would be the point?"

"I can't. But they can."

She looked away again, studying the embers of the campfire.

"You're hiding something from them."

"I'm not.. I'm not.."

"Yes you are." He gently pulled her off tiara.

"Give me that!" She wrenched it out of his hands but did not put it on again.

"You have feelings for me too."

"No.. I don't.. I don't.."

"You don't want them to know, especially Teer."

"John.."

"You love Rodney. I know that. I respect it and I accept it. I respect you. That's why I've been so careful."

"John, I can't.."

"Don't worry, I know that you won't give in. Hell, even when you were blind drunk you still kept telling me how much you love McKay. It really does you credit. Sara, look at me." She did. "You need to admit that you have feelings for me. You gotta accept that. Stop being in denial about it."

She made a bitter laugh, "Denial? Me? I'm always in denial." Indeed, it was her greatest weakness.

"You can hide it from Teer and maybe even from yourself, but you can't hide it from me."

She said nothing.

He tried to reassure her, "Don't worry, we'll still be okay. I won't cross that line. Neither will you."

She thought about Teer and a realization hit her. She stared into space. "No, John.. we won't be okay."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Teer's predictions. She told you that she was destined to fall in love with you, that you were her soulmate."

"I know, I know. I still can't see it happening.."

"John, it won't happen. It never will."

"Huh?"

She looked at him with tragic eyes. "It will be us. She predicted it."

"What? Are you crazy? No she hasn't!"

"She did."

"How?"

"By not saying anything."

"What? You're not making sense again."

"John, if we are destined to never fall in love, if we would never cross that line, she would have said so. Immediately."

"She would?"

"Yes, she would. She would have announced it long and loud to everyone. I'm the Obstacle, remember?"

"Yeah, but.."

"Don't you see? She never claimed that you would fall in love with her. She only said that *she* would fall in love with *you*. She never said you would."

He realized the implication. Looking back he saw it. "Oh no.."

"You see it? She said that you are her soulmate, remember? She never claimed that she would be yours. She only said that you would be hers."

"You mean.."

"I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"I get it. Teer and I will never fall in love. It will never happen."

"No. Because I'm the Obstacle."

He realized the truth in her words. "I see it. You think that eventually it will be you and me some day."

"Yes."

She looked down again, "I am so, so, sorry. It might take a century, or even 1000 years, but sooner or later we will fall in love. There's no other explanation."

He dropped his head into his hands. "No way.."

The Guardian looked up somewhat startled. She stared briefly into the woods towards the village, then she looked back at the campfire again.

Sheppard caught her eye motion. He whispered, "Genie, what is it? Is something out there?"

{ Someone is watching us. Monitoring us. Just past the trees. }

{ Really? }

{ I never noticed it before. My limiter. She's been watching us.. oh yes.. she's been watching us for a long time. She's been listening to our conversations by monitoring your surface thoughts. This isn't the first time. }

{ She has? }

There was a roar deep in the woods, the guttural noise of a great beast. It was louder than ever before.

The Guardian yelled, "It's coming! The beast!"

"Run back to the village!"

"I'll stay and hold it off."

"Like hell you will. Genie, you got a death wish as bad as mine sometimes. Let's go!" He grabbed her arm.

The beast came crashing through the woods. It was huge, over 20 meters high. It roared like Godzilla. People streamed from the cottages in alarm. Screaming started.

Sheppard whirled around. "Where is she?" He yelled, "Teer! I know you're here! Come out!"

Teer emerged from behind a tree, her eyes raging in pure hate.

Sheppard stabbed a finger at her accusingly, "That beast! It's you, isn't it?"

"John, I waited. You are the Key. You're supposed to raise us all to ascension." Then she glared at the Guardian, "But not with her! She is not supposed to be here! She's ruining everything!"

"Teer, we both know that's not true. If she wasn't here I would still be in love with someone else. I'm sorry."

"No! You're wrong!" The beast roared again, getting closer.

The Guardian spoke quickly, "John, wait. Think. If I didn't exist, would you have started a relationship with Elizabeth?"

"Uh, I guess maybe not, but I don't see.."

"John, you only approached her because I told you she'd accept you. Otherwise you would never have dared. You'd still be alone. You'd have a half dozen female hookups by now, granted, particularly with any exotic or Lantean women you found, but it would be nothing serious. It's because of that mental wall you always keep up. If you were stuck in here for months and a pretty maiden like Teer approached you, you'd probably accept her invitation."

He remained silent.

Teer was yelling, "John is mine! He is supposed to be mine! Why did you come here? Why did you RUIN EVERYTHING!" The beast roared again, crashing through the treeline.

Sheppard ran up to Teer. "I'm sorry. I'm just not.. I have personal issues. Look, I'm complicated. The point is, it's not you, it's me. It wouldn't have worked."

Avrid and Hedda approached from behind. Sheppard went on, "Teer, that beast is you. It came from you. Look at it. That monster is your jealousy in physical form."

Avrid said quietly, "It's more than that. That monster represents all of us: Our feelings of hate, our anger, all of our negative emotions made manifest."

"Teer, release your burdens. Let go. I'll help you."

She pleaded, "John, I love you."

"I know."

She was crying. "I never even kissed you, or anyone."

"You're such a beautiful woman. You deserve so much more.."

He kissed her deeply, with passion. She returned it.

She opened her eyes. The monster was gone.

She started to glow. "John, you did it."

"Teer.."

"I always knew you would. I love you, and I always will."

Avrid and the others started to glow as well.

* * *

"Rodney, the equations are obvious. Don't be so obtuse."

"C'mon, Sara. It's just a coincidence."

"No it isn't. Look here." She shuffled around Maxwell's equations on the imaging table with her gloved hand. Zelenka was bemusedly watching them from behind a nearby computer panel.

"Rodney, see here, the fourth equation, Ampère's Law? That extra term?"

"Yeah? So?"

"Rodney, don't you see? It ruins the elegant symmetry of the four coupled equations. Together they connect electricity to magnetism; one is the flip side of the other. The equations are beautiful in their simplicity, their symmetry, except for that extra term."

"Wait, this is another one of your 'hacks', right?"

Sheppard walked in to the lab behind them. He was now clean shaven again. Zelenka motioned him over to join him in watching the geek duo's science quarrel.

Meanwhile the Guardian was still arguing about electromagnetism with McKay. "Exactly. It's a design hack. You don't even have to know any math. Just step back and look at the four coupled equations in a GIF image. You can see this extra term sticking out at the bottom like a sore thumb!"

Zelenka whispered to Sheppard, "They've been bickering like that for hours. It's as if she never left Atlantis."

Sheppard grinned, "Well, she's a Lantean. Time works differently for their kind. Eight years is like a day in the park to her."

Zelenka turned, "But what about you, John? You were stuck in there for eight years too. What did you do during all that time?"

"Well, let's just say I had some time to be introspective."

* * *

Sheppard shifted under the covers.

Weir was holding him tightly. She asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Silence.

"John, whatever happened in there.."

"Nothing happened between us, really. Okay, I admit that we shared that cottage but I swear we never.."

"Stop talking. I don't want to know."

"Elizabeth."

"John, have you heard of the expression, 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas'?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, whatever happened in there stays in there. It's over and done with. I already forgive you for whatever happened.."

"But nothing.."

"Shush. It's okay. It's over and you're back. That's all that matters to me."

"I swear, nothing happened!"

"If you say so, then I believe you."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"You're mouth says 'Yes' but your eyes say 'Guilty.'"

She sat up in bed, "Well, what do you expect? You spent eight years living with a beautiful and intelligent woman who thinks so highly of you, including sharing a one-bedroom cottage together? What am I supposed to think?"

"Oh come on!"

* * *

On a hive ship far from Atlantis the Time Acceleration Chamber hissed and opened. The Instruction Machine disconnected itself and the hybrid sat up.

"Hello, father."

Todd made a close-lipped smile, "Hello, my child."

The girl yawned and stretched as she proceeded to detach the various sensors and monitors from her body. Finally she pulled out a long needle from her arm.

He held out his hand, "Let me see you. Stand up." With his help she scrambled out of the vessel.

She stood tall and proud, turning around for his inspection.

He saw that she was already becoming a dark and ravishing beauty. "Ah, you are becoming magnificent. You have grown so much."

"Thank you, father. I feel much stronger now."

From a distance she looked like an adolescent girl of perhaps the human equivalent of age 14, pale skinned, with long straight black hair and black nails. She had the characteristic cheek nostrils of a Wraith. Only up close were the differences evident with her unusually high cheekbones and her human teeth.

The most striking difference was in her eye color. Although her pupils were slitted like a Wraith, instead of her eyes being a sickly yellow her irises had a bright blue sheen, an intense azure shade bordering on indigo. The effect was both striking and terrifying.

"I am hungry."

"No doubt. It is time for your feeding, my child."

She looked around Todd's lab. "Where is my prey? I don't see them."

He handed her a black longcoat and she put it on. "Come, follow me. I saved the choicest specimens for you, the best. They are the culled warriors from Terra who came to defend Atlantis. I tasted one myself and it is exquisite."

She looked at him with ravenous eyes. "Give them to me."

"We will start slowly with just one. I want to monitor your vital signs to make sure that..."

"No, I want them all."

"But my child.."

"Give me all of them!"

"But.."

"All of them, now!"

* * *

After the feeding she sat down, finally satiated.

Todd was impressed with her unique ability to absorb minds and consume them during feeding. He did not expect that. Apparently she could somehow assimilate her prey's memories and add them to her own. It was a surprising side effect of her combined Wraith-Lantean heritage.

Yes, she was remarkable. She was everything he had hoped, and more. It would take several more months, but soon she would be ready to be unleashed upon the Pegasus Galaxy.

She was already becoming tall and proud, with incredible powers, surpassing both Lantean and Wraith.

She was the Black Guardian.

* * *

"Father, I have chosen a name for myself."

"You have?"

That was unusual. Wraiths typically did not have names. He had given himself the name 'Guide', but that was an exception, an accession to his own vanity.

"Yes. When I absorbed the mind of that Terran marine gunner he was crying out the name of his savior, over and over."

"It's a Terran religion. One of them had a small book in his pocket, and I made him read it so I could translate it from his mind. Hurr.. it was very strange, and I confess that I do not understand any of it."

"His mind was very interesting." What she did not mention is that some of it had escaped her grasp, that she was not able to consume all of him. She was not sure why.

"And what did you learn, my child?"

"They have an elaborate belief system, yet it is also rather simple."

"Give me an example."

"Well, they have a belief in something called an 'angel'. It is a powerful being, immortal and transcendent. There is a whole hierarchy of angels. It's quite fascinating."

"Hurr.. That sounds like the Atlanteans' concept of energy-based ascension."

"No, these beings are far more powerful. They even have names. Let's see.." She looked into the memories that she absorbed from her prey. "There is Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel.."

Todd raised his hand, "Enough. It is an interesting ability that you have. You said that you picked out a name for yourself?"

"Father, I have."

She stood up.

"I will name myself after the greatest of the angels..."

Her malevolent smile grew until it became a terrifying visage: proud, triumphant, supreme.

"I am Michaela."

* * *

 **A/R:**

* My mother was an alcoholic and my brother was a drug addict, so I am acutely aware of the problems of chemical addiction.

These are the original twelve steps as published by Alcoholics Anonymous (paraphrased for general substance abuse):

1\. We admitted we were powerless over our addiction. That our lives had become unmanageable.

2\. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3\. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4\. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5\. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6\. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7\. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8\. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9\. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10\. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11\. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12\. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

For more information please see aa dot org.

I would also add one more important item: _Do not do it alone._

Find someone. Anyone. Find someone you can absolutely trust and talk to (in person, not online, not on the phone) about what is going on in your life. If you have an SO already, that is wonderful. He/she probably already knows, but ask him/her for help anyway. If not, find someone to confess to. I don't care who, a pastor, a relative, a close friend, a co-worker, but find someone. In my experience that is the most important thing you can do.

The real secret to 12-step is the meetings and the accountability stuff (another recovering addict checks up on you). My mother later became a significant leader of AA in my state, with almost 40 years of sobriety, and she sponsored innumerable others to recovery. It really does work.

* * *

 **A/R:**

** 2 Cor 4:16

*** Job 32:8

*4 Mt 26:41

*5 Col 3:10

*6 This story assumes a time ratio of 2000 to 1 (not 250 to 1). In the episode _Epiphany_ (S02E12), Telya told McKay that she had used his video camera to measure the rate of time acceleration and found the ratio to be 250 to 1. However, that claim contradicts everything else we saw in that episode. In the final scene Sheppard groused that he had waited six months while McKay said it was only a couple hours for him. That works out to be about 2000 to 1. Earlier, McKay had warned Weir that Sheppard would "die of old age in a week to ten days". At 250 to 1 that would be only 5-7 years or so, hardly fatal. Sheppard was 36 years old at the time (born 1970 per GateWorld), so assuming a normal 85 year lifespan, a week to ten days would be around 50 years, which also works out to around 2000 to 1. Later, McKay quipped to Beckett that he could return in time for his dinner date because "Gosh, we only have 12 years to make it." That again works out to be much closer to 2000 to 1 than 250 to 1.

*7 In the original episode, Teer had explained to Sheppard that the villagers were all just regular humans. This story assumes that they are actually Lantean refugees. It is established in episodes of both series that only Lanteans can ascend (except for humans who receive help, like when Daniel Jackson had received help from Oma). Otherwise people would be trying to ascend all over the Pegasus Galaxy (with Wraith cullings everywhere wouldn't you?) and it would be a major, daily, component of life in every human village everywhere. However, I don't think we saw anything like that in any other episode.

-H


	20. Chapter 20: An Unexpected Meeting

**Chapter 20: An Unexpected Meeting**

For weeks McKay had remained resentful and jealous of Sheppard for spending eight years inside the time dilation field on P49-M87 with his wife. Although the Guardian had vowed repeatedly to her husband that nothing had happened between them (just like Sheppard had vowed to Weir), McKay continued to be suspicious of Sheppard. He remained mistrustful despite the fact that he could sense through his mental Bond that the Guardian was telling the truth.

Sheppard for his part played the role of a gentleman, and he respectfully gave the married couple plenty of space. He avoided talking to the Guardian except for official duties. She did the same. He sat apart during meals with Lorne and his men at another table.

Meanwhile, McKay made a point to spend as much time with his newly returned wife as possible. He would often summon her to his lab on some pretense to help confirm his results regarding some random science problem. She knew that it was just an excuse but she went along with it, spending as much time with him in his lab each day as her duties allowed. She had even invited him to escort her on her daily patrols of the city, and to her surprise he accepted, something he had never done before.

Whenever they were alone together - be it on patrol, or in the mess hall, or in bed - he would repeatedly quiz her over and over about every little detail of what had transpired during her long sabbatical living with Sheppard and the pre-Ascendant villagers.

One night he protested, "Kit, it's just not fair. You were together with him for eight years, but it was only a day and a half for me. I've known you only for a single year but now he's known you for nine!"

She kept trying to reassure him, gently explaining to him that those years had passed by quickly and that nothing of note had happened.

"Kit, can you honestly tell me that he never hit on you? Not even once? Not even hinted? Joked?"

She looked at him, { He never did. Not once. }

He hesitated, wanting to believe her.

{ Rodney, use our Bond to sense my thoughts. I'm telling you the truth. }

He did, carefully. He could tell that she was earnest and sincere.

"Okay, fine. But what about you?"

She felt a jolt in her stomach. { Me? What do you mean? }

"Tell me the truth. Were you attracted to him? Even once?"

She protested, { Rodney, why would you ask me that? You know I love you more than anything. John means nothing to me. I told you that on our wedding night. }

"I.. I know. I just want to be certain. Please tell me, Kit. Were you ever tempted?"

Her strong sense of denial kicked in. It was her worst personal trait, the same mental defense that she had put up against her betrayal at the gate when her people never bothered to contact her ever again, and the same ironclad barrier of denial that she had erected in her mind regarding her original lover - a man who had lied about being a Lantean and used her for his own greed when he tried to steal two of the three _Potentias_ from her city and flee with them.

Over her long life she had put up that barrier again and again, pushing down and suppressing any undesirable thoughts about herself, her past, ramming them down so deeply into the most remote and darkest recesses of her subconscious mind that she had almost succeeded in convincing herself that they never existed in the first place.

She looked at him levelly, { No, Rodney. I was never tempted. }

Did he believe her? She sensed the tickle of his mind touching hers as the Bond worked its magic - a mental connection so strong that not even her limiter could block it.

This was the crucial moment. Seconds passed.

"I believe you."

She smiled and caressed his face, { Thank you, my love. }

"I'm sorry for pressing you."

{ It's all right. }

They kissed.

* * *

The next day the Guardian climbed up to the roof of the North Tower alone. She watched the whitecaps in the distance and brooded. She felt melancholy.

It was because she had lied to her husband, hoping that her mental discipline was strong enough to successfully hide her memories of her feelings for Sheppard. It was a terribly risky gamble but it worked. McKay believed her.

However, despite her powerful sense of denial she still could not fool herself. Not completely.

While gazing alone at the ocean she temporarily released the barriers in her mind that surrounded those suppressed memories. She wondered if they were still hidden there, or had she successfully purged them?

No, the memories were still there.

She was in fact tempted on P49-M87.

Her weakness, her denial, rationalized the fact that she had deliberately told a falsehood to her husband.

After all, what harm could there be in not telling him? She knew that she never would have crossed that line, nor would Sheppard. They both knew it.

No, she felt there was no chance that she would ever have acted on those feelings. Rodney was her soulmate. She loved him unconditionally.

She believed that any feelings that she might have had for Sheppard were superficial, merely a skin-deep attraction, nothing real or serious - no doubt because of his rakish good looks and boyish charm.

No, that wasn't true. She knew him too well now. That excuse did not work anymore, not after so many years had gone by. During those years she had slowly sensed his brokenness deep inside, his secret desire for heroic self-destruction.

She understood that dark desire better than anyone. After all, she shared that character flaw herself, remembering how she had tried to commit an overly heroic suicide by entering the radioactive drone launch bay to repair the broken power connector.

Her feelings were more than mere superficial attraction. It was something deeper.

It was a desire to save him.

That was her real attraction to him.

But how realistic was it? She knew that she was still young (mentally) and inexperienced with men. Surely it was only a young girl's silly romantic fantasy?

She continued to rationalize.

 _Everybody has bad thoughts sometimes. It can't be helped, right?_

She felt that if she confessed her bad thoughts to Rodney it would serve no useful purpose. It would only hurt him terribly, and it would probably wreck his friendship with Sheppard.

Yes, she told herself, lying to him was the right thing to do.

 _So why do I feel so terrible right now?_

She continued to watch the ocean waves in broodful silence for several minutes. Eventually she went downstairs.

* * *

A few weeks later the Guardian decided to visit the roof of the South Tower for a change of scenery. She was surprised to find Evan Lorne already on the rooftop, dressed in a gray paint-splattered smock, standing in front of an easel holding a paintbrush and a color palette in his hands.

"I'm sorry, Major Lorne, I didn't mean to disturb you."

Lorne looked up from his canvas, "Oh, hey Sara. You're not bothering me at all."

The Guardian walked up, "May I ask what you are doing?"

"I'm doing a portrait of the city. What do you think?"

She peered at the canvas, an impressionistic view of the city with seagulls flying in front of the main spire.

"It is beautiful. You are a gifted painter."

"Thanks."

"Do you paint often?"

"Not as often as I'd like. Before Atlantis I mostly painted landscapes at the National Parks, Grand Tetons, Yosemite."

"If I lived on Earth I would want to visit every National Park, indeed every beautiful place on the planet."

He chuckled, "You'd be busy for the rest of life doing that."

"Indeed. Earth is so amazing. It's places, it's people, there is so much to see."

She added quietly to herself, "No wonder He watches it so much."

Lorne heard her. He lowered his brush with interest, "Are you talking about God?"

"We call Him The Designer."

Lorne quoted dramatically, "'What God Hath Wrought!'"*

"Hmm?"

"It's the first message that Samuel Morse tapped into his new invention, the telegraph, to Washington, D.C. in 1844."

"I was only on Earth for a short visit, but what I saw of it, of what 'He Hath Wrought', was truly amazing to me." The Guardian thought a moment. "Major Lorne, may I ask you question?"

"Sure, shoot."

"Your religious writings say that He injected himself into his Creation as a human being, to experience it all for Himself? Is that correct?"

"That's right."

"But why?"

"It's pretty obvious if you ask me."

She waited expectantly for his answer.

"He wants a relationship with us. Friends to chat with. It's because He loves us. John 3:16."

"Friends, not supplicants?"

"No, no, not by force if that's what you mean. Nothing like the Goa'uld. The exact opposite in fact."

"You are saying that The Designer wants friends, companions, who will freely choose to enter into a personal relationship with Him?"

"Exactly. Because that is what makes our relationship with Him all the more special, more precious, in His eyes. A forced confession is worthless, worse than worthless actually."

"I see. This is still difficult for me to grasp."

She thought a moment, then she added, "I do see part of it, though."

"Oh?"

She made a gesture at the skyline, "Look around you. The stars, the heavens, all of it. All of it is visible, a universe that contains over 100 billion galaxies, each with 100 billion stars, all spread across billions of light years, and all of which we can actually see, which by all rights ought to be impossible."

"The glory of Creation, which is a reflection of His own glory."

"Yes, and He seems to be going out of His way to let us appreciate all He Hath Wrought."

"Interesting. I never thought of it like that. I guess so."

Silence.

"Evan, something still eludes me."

"Oh?"

She hesitated, then she asked, "Why does He love you?"

"Fair question. We certainly don't deserve it. Our sin blocks the connection, breaks our communion with Him. We screw up over and over. It's a mystery why He keeps trying so hard despite how badly we fail."

"I still don't understand."

"Hmm. Maybe talk to Doctor Kurosawa about it?"

She thought some more, "Perhaps I might do that sometime, thank you."

* * *

After a month, life on Atlantis had gradually returned to normal. McKay had finally gotten over his resentfulness regarding Sheppard, and the fact that McKay had privately learned of Weir's affair with Sheppard (when she had helped McKay write their respective 'Dear John' letters) combined with his wife's repeated reassurances had finally allayed his remaining suspicions.

There was also a third reason, which was rather ironic: McKay was now very distracted by his own temptations, for he knew that his old heart-throb Samantha Carter (along with the rest of SG-1) was scheduled to arrive on the _Odyssey_ the very next day.

* * *

Early the following morning the Guardian, McKay, Weir, and Sheppard were seated together in the mess hall for breakfast. Teyla, Ronon, and Harry Maybourne were off-world in a recon team (which Sheppard had immediately dubbed 'GA-1') that was busy visiting several human worlds to bootstrap the Guardian's new counter-intelligence spy network. Doctor Kurosawa was away with AR-12 on an archaeological dig.

McKay was excited, "I can't wait for them to get here."

The Guardian decided to have a bit of fun at her husband's expense after the month-long grilling she had endured. "So, I understand that your former girlfriend is coming to visit?"

McKay put down his _furcacultro_ next to his plate and frowned, "Sara, she was never my girlfriend."

Sheppard didn't mess a beat, "But wait, I heard that you and Colonel Carter had gotten pretty close when you two worked together at the SGC."

McKay replied testily, "Only professionally, Sheppard. I was there simply as a liaison from Area 51 trying to help save the SGC and the Earth from getting blown up by Anubis."**

He added, "She and I became very good colleagues."

The Guardian concealed her amusement as she watched Sheppard go to work on McKay.

Sheppard said, "I see. So she is your 'colleague'."

"Yes."

"An attractive blond colleague."

"Uh, yes. I can't deny that she is rather attractive."

"An attractive blond colleague, who is also a genius, and who knows advanced physics."

"Well, yes, that is all true."

Weir turned to Sheppard, "You think McKay has a particular type he likes?"

Sheppard grinned as he glanced over at the Guardian, "Oh yeah. He definitely has a type."

The Guardian chimed in, "Probably because of his sister."

McKay was indignant, "Hey!"

The three of them turned to face McKay with mock innocent expressions. Weir mused, "I see. How interesting."

Sheppard agreed, "Explains a lot."

McKay was now fuming, "Stop it! I do not have a sister complex!"

"It's rather obvious if you ask me," teased the Guardian.

"You too? You three are all ganging up on me, no fair!" McKay grabbed his tray in a huff and left the table for an empty one. Weir suppressed a titter.

The Guardian stood and sighed, "I better go and apologize. Excuse me." She left with her tray to try to console her husband and soothe his wounded ego. Meanwhile, Weir and Sheppard resumed their meal alone.

Weir leaned in, "John, wait, don't tell me that he's still infatuated with Samantha Carter?"

Sheppard idly stirred his _furcacultro_ in his tava bean soup.

"I think in a few hours we are going to find out."

* * *

The Guardian waited patiently just inside the portico of the South Tower with Weir, McKay, Sheppard, Beckett, Grodin, and the rest of the Atlantis disembarkation team as they watched the _Odyssey_ land on the pier. After the mighty ship's great engines died, the landing bay opened and the senior staff of the Atlantis Expedition approached the foot of the ramp to greet the new visitors from Earth.

The first person to walk down the ramp was the captain, Colonel Emerson, who greeted Doctor Weir and saluted Colonel Sheppard. While he exchanged pleasantries with the leaders of the Expedition several of his crewmen were already busy transporting supplies down the broad ramp.

The Guardian ignored the exchange, instead scanning the personnel as they walked down the ramp until she spotted her target. She bolted up the ramp and squealed as she embraced her best friend on Earth.

"Sam! Sam!"

The blond physicist gingerly returned the embrace, "Hey Sara. It's so good to see you again."

The Guardian pulled away beaming, "Sam, I really wish you could stay. I want to show you everything!" It was because she knew that Carter and the _Odyssey_ were due to depart in less than an hour.

"I'm sorry that we have to leave so soon. Teal'c is already waiting at the Ori supergate in a cloaked Al'kesh spacecraft, and it's only a matter of time before an Ori patrol spots him."

"I understand. Well, the next time you're here I'll give you the double-deluxe city tour. I promise."

"Hey, thanks. I'm looking forward to it."

The Guardian glanced around to make sure nobody was nearby, then she whispered to Carter, "I can show you a secret lab that the Expedition hasn't found yet in one of the flooded areas..." She continued to whisper excitedly into Carter's ear as they walked down the ramp together,

"That sounds really interesting. Maybe you can give me a peek after we come back from the mission?"

"I promise. I also have a new pet that's really cute..." The gabbing went on.

Cameron Mitchell had just joined the group at the bottom of the ramp and was greeted by Sheppard. Meanwhile, McKay was standing awkwardly off to the side.

McKay furtively watched the pair of blondes approach him and the rest of the group. As he waited his mind started to wander.

 _Both of them would be so hot_

The Guardian nearly stumbled.

Carter caught the Guardian's arm. "Sara, you okay?"

McKay had suffered a thought leak, the first one in months.

{ Rodney! I heard that! }

McKay's face went red. { I'm sorry Kit! It was an accident! }

The Guardian turned and gave McKay a hard look. Then she turned back to Carter, "I think I need to warn you about something..."

Suddenly a voice yelled, "There she is!"

Weir was about to welcome the new visitors to Atlantis when Doctor Daniel Jackson and Vala dashed down the ramp. Vala was yelling, "I see her! I see her!"

Although the Guardian was becoming better at socializing with humans, having now spent a year working and living among the Tau'ri, and despite the fact that she had learned to deliver a convincing scripted performance in front of others (including a song and dance number to the ABBA tune 'Waterloo'*** on stage with Laura Cadman, Mary, and Joanie during the talent contest that was held at the Rising Day anniversary party two months prior, which was well received), she was still somewhat shy in dealing with strangers.

In terms of her potential reaction, Vala and Daniel rushing down the ramp towards her like a pair of teenage rock-idol fans was probably the worst thing they could do.

The Guardian instinctively pulled up her hood and crouched down in her battle stance. McKay spotted it and quickly moved in, interposing himself between the semi-feral Wraith killer and her onrushing fans.

Daniel Jackson and Vala descended from the ramp and enthusiastically scampered over to meet the last living Ancient. He was breathless, "It is such an honor to finally meet you." Vala moved around McKay, boxing her in.

The Guardian stayed crouched behind her husband and begged him, "Rodney, please make the scary people go away?"

McKay valiantly tried to defend his wife from her over-eager fans. "Hey, you two back off."

Vala ignored his order as her eyes gazed covetously at the Guardian's tiara. She pointed, "Daniel, look at that. It's so pretty." Vala tried to touch it and the Guardian flinched away. Vala asked her, "Is it expensive?"

The Guardian made a low guttural sound in her throat. McKay again shifted to interpose himself between the Guardian and the acquisitive girl. "I said get back you weirdo."

Daniel Jackson moved to grab Vala's arm, and he gently but firmly pulled her away from the Ancient as he apologized on her behalf. In response the Guardian's throat rumbled again.

Vala asked, "Daniel, what was that noise? It sounded like an animal growling."

Sheppard made a thin-lipped smile, "You guys better be careful. When our resident Guardian makes that sound it means that she's getting pissed."

Jackson looked at Sheppard, "Pissed?"

"Yeah. And when she gets pissed the next thing that happens is people start to explode."

Jackson was incredulous, "Explode? Are you serious?"

Mitchell drawled, "Y'all better listen to the man. Ain't that right, Sam?"

Samantha smiled and nodded, "Daniel, annoying Sara is never a good idea. When the Goa'uld messed up her vacation you know what happened next."

Jackson recalled that in response to their rude effrontery the Guardian had KO'ed the Vice President and wiped the Goa'uld off the face of the Earth.

"Oh."

Sheppard said with a straight face, "It is such a pain to clean the splatter from the ceiling. Then I gotta write a bunch of reports and the paperwork is a bitch. So why don't you two folks do as McKay suggests and not spook our nice Guardian, m'kay?"

{ John, thank you. }

{ My pleasure. }

"Sorry."

The Guardian straightened up and pulled back her hood. She approached the pair, who backed away a step. She bent over and put her face right in front of Vala. "In answer to your question, yes, my limiter is priceless."

Vala changed tactics and put her arms behind her back, rocking back-and-forth like an inquisitive child as she gave her most disarming smile, "So, do you have any more of those pretty crowns stored away?"

The Guardian was not amused. "Yes, I have a spare. No, you cannot have it. And no, you cannot take any other souvenirs. I will make sure you are searched before you leave."

Vala appeared offended, "What? It sounds like you are accusing me of being a thief or something."

The Guardian's eyes narrowed. "That's because you *are* a thief."

"What? Such a slanderous accusation!"

"Hardly. Your mind practically screams it."

Vala harrumphed, then she turned to Jackson and pulled him out of earshot. She stood on her tip-toes and whispered very quietly into his ear, "Daniel, she's rude. I don't like her."

The Guardian's sensitive ears heard her anyway. She said loudly across the tarmac, "I don't like you either!" Everyone heard it.

Vala was startled, "You, you, eavesdropper!" She turned back, "Daniel, just look at how rudely she treats her guests. So ill-mannered, so discourteous, so disrespectful..."

Jackson admonished his avaricious teammate, "Vala, please stop. Wait right here." She complied and waited semi-respectfully as Daniel left her and again approached the Guardian, who was frowning at him.

He bent down and acted fatherly to the young Lantean girl. He said soothingly, "I am very sorry if Vala frightened you. It wasn't on purpose. We apologize, great _Anquietas_ , and hope you will forgive us. It's just that she is very excited to finally meet you. And frankly so am I. I never had a chance to talk with you at Area 51."

The Guardian looked at him and said nothing.

He went on with his fatherly manner of speaking, "I know that as an Alteran that we humans must look like a vastly inferior species. Savages even. I assure you that even though we must seem like primitive barbarians in your eyes, we are learning to become more civilized. We hope that you will help us to grow, to become more like you, so that we can.."

He continued to patronize her for a full minute.

".. and I see that you made friends with Sam. That's great. That's wonderful. She is a very nice person. I'm glad you like her. I hope one day you will become my friend as well, and.."

He could tell from her stoic facial expression that his monologue wasn't working. It made him increasingly nervous.

".. and, uh, well, I just want to say 'thank you' for all that you have done for the SGC, for humanity, in getting rid of the Goa'uld, and giving us so much amazing information about your history and your culture. So, uh, thank you." He put his hand out.

The Guardian looked at his offered hand as if it was infected. After a moment he pulled it back again.

Weir decided that now was a good time to step in, "Doctor Jackson, you had radioed ahead to request our help in your search for an anti-Ori weapon. We already searched all of the available Lantean databases for you, but we didn't find anything."

Jackson was relieved and thankful that Weir had bailed him out of an awkward situation. "No, I didn't expect you would. Still, we found strong evidence pointing to Atlantis holding the answer, so I'm hoping that maybe together we can dig through your databases to find a clue?"

Weir smiled, "We are happy to help. The Guardian is our best expert on searching the Lantean databases. She has already agreed to assist you."

The Guardian finally spoke, grousing, "I'm starting to have second thoughts about that."

"Sara, please."

Mitchell was droll, "Ma'am, it's nothing important. Just a mission to save our galaxy and every human in it."

The Guardian sighed, "Very well." She frowned at Jackson, then she turned and silently gave Weir a look that said _you owe me._

"I'll keep Vala on a short leash," promised Jackson.

"Hey, I can be charming if I want! Very charming in fact."

The Guardian wondered, "Why is she here anyway?"

"Hey!"

"Vala, please." Jackson turned and explained to the Guardian, "We were connected with a pair of bracelets that caused us to become very ill if we were separated. We've since taken them off, but there are still some lingering effects. Mild headaches mostly."

"Oh, I see." The Guardian made a small smile, "How nice. You were wearing Bonding bracelets. I did not know that you and Vala were a mated pair."

Jackson was surprised, "What? No! We're not. Uh, she's not my girlfriend."

Mitchell teased, "Daniel, admit it, you two make such a great couple."

The Guardian agreed, "You are obviously a couple. Anyone can see that."

"Well, I'm sorry but we are not."

"Doctor Jackson, the purpose of the bracelets is to help a mated pair raise their level of mental intimacy to create the Bond. Otherwise why wear them?"

"No, no, no! You misunderstand. These bracelets were a different type..."

Colonel Emerson decided to step in. He addressed everyone tactfully, "Ladies and gentlemen, I really hate to interrupt this fun little social gathering, but I am afraid that we have a mission to run and we are on the clock."

Doctor Weir quickly asserted her authority, addressing the whole group. "The Colonel is quite right. We need to adjourn and go to the main conference room for the pre-mission briefing. Please come with me."

Everyone followed Weir toward the central tower. The Guardian fell back and hugged Samantha again, escorting her as she babbled more about the tour that she planned to give her best friend from Earth.

From the rear Vala and Daniel Jackson watched.

"Daniel, how come Sam gets hugs and we get growls?"

"Yes, it's a complete mystery." He grabbed her arm, "Let's go."

* * *

The Guardian stood at the balcony outside the gate room with Weir and Sheppard as they watched the _Odyssey_ slowly lift off from the South Pier. There was a tremendous roar as the large battleship rose up and began to rapidly accelerate away until it shrank down to a dot in the sky. Then it was gone.

The trio continued to gaze out at the now empty sky. Sheppard said quietly, "Always an impressive sight."

Weir agreed, "Yes, it is."

The Guardian said worriedly, "I just hope Rodney will be okay."

Sheppard turned to reassure her, "Don't worry, they'll all come back in one piece. That ship is the best we got."

"John, that's not what I mean."

 _"Rodney, I want you to be careful, and be professional."_

 _"Hey, I'm always professional."_

"Hmm?"

Weir turned from the balcony, "Sara?"

The Guardian faced the leader of the Expedition and spoke formally, "Doctor Weir, I want to officially apologize on Rodney's behalf for his rude and unbecoming conduct during the mission briefing."

Weir smiled, "That's not necessary, Sara. Doctor McKay is responsible for his own actions, not you."

"Elizabeth, she's right, McKay was acting like a complete ass," observed Sheppard, "It was bad even for him."

"Even so, you didn't have to threaten to shoot him."

"Aw, I was joking," He paused, "I think."

The Guardian sighed, "I was almost ready to stun him myself. John, what do you think got into him?"

"Isn't it obvious? Two words: Samantha Carter."

Weir asked them both, "You think his rude interruptions were because he was trying to impress her by showing off?"

The Guardian nodded, "I do, although I very much hate to admit it. In his defense I should add that I know that unconscious, uh, attractions, can be very difficult to purge from a person's mind. They can be suppressed, but.."

Sheppard stopped her, "Sara, that is not the reason why McKay dialed his jerk-level up to 11."

"Then why..?"

"I think it was jealousy."

"I don't understand. You think my being friends with Sam threatens him somehow?"

"No. I mean his professional jealousy. All his grandstanding about the mission, he was trying to show her up."

The Guardian sighed, "I get it. He sees Sam as a rival, a competitor."

"Yeah."

Weir concurred, "His working together with who he believes is his greatest rival is going to be a big challenge for him on this mission."

"Doctor Weir, I'm sure he will be fine. I specifically told Rodney to act like a professional on this mission. Those yield equations are difficult to calculate, and they will need to work closely together to solve them."

It was because the _Odyssey_ was now on its way to a black hole where it would release an orbiting space gate in close proximity. The naquadah-enhanced nuclear bombs on board needed to be calibrated very precisely to trigger the energy flow from the black hole to pass through to the receiving gate in the Milky Way and jump from it to the Ori supergate, thus creating a permanent one-way connection to block the Ori from sending any more ships through it.

"I am sure that Rodney will behave himself."

"Let's hope so."

"He will. He knows the stakes."

Sheppard looked around, "So where are Vala and Daniel Jackson?

"I sent them to the Children's Instruction Room."

"The VR room?"

"Yes."

Weir asked, "Sara, why didn't you simply sit down with them at a data terminal? It's much quicker and more efficient. That VR hologram was meant to be used only for teaching young Lantean children."

The Guardian was indignant, "Because, Doctor Weir, Daniel Jackson treated me like a child. And Vala acted like one."

Sheppard chuckled, "So you punished them - you sent them to the Romper Room."

"Exactly."

 _"Colonel Sheppard, this is Lorne. AR-2 is ready to depart. We are awaiting your pre-mission briefing."_

"This is Sheppard, on my way." He waved, "Gotta go," and left.

Weir tsk-tsked the Guardian, "That was naughty of you."

The Guardian crossed her arms, "They both deserved it."

"You'll help them eventually? Using keyboard entry at a real data terminal?"

"Of course, Doctor."

Vala ran up. She was out of breath, "Hey! We need help!"

The Guardian and Weir glanced at each other, then at Vala. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes! It.. it talked!"

"You mean the hologram?"

Vala jumped up and down, "Yes!"

The Guardian sighed, "That is what it does. It answers your questions."

"No, I mean it really talked!"

The Ancient crossed her arms, "I can assure you that the holographic teacher in the Children's Instruction Room is running a basic query-response algorithm. She is not actually having a conversation with you. Nor is it an AI."

After the disaster of creating the Replicators, the Lanteans had banned the creation of AIs.*4 Only simple goal-directed programs like Tarai were permitted.

"No, no, no! She's faking! Daniel caught her!"

The Guardian arched an eyebrow, "Faking?"

Weir sighed, "We should probably go check."

Vala grabbed the Guardian's arm and started pulling, "Hurry!"

The Guardian wrenched her arm back. "If this is a joke, I *will* make someone pay.."

 _"Doctor Weir, Guardian, this is the Operations Center."_

Weir tapped her earpiece. "What is it, Chuck? I'm with the Guardian."

 _"Colonel Emerson is on the radio asking to talk with both of you."_

"Did he give a reason?"

 _"Apparently Doctor McKay is causing a commotion onboard the Odyssey and the captain is asking for your help to resolve it."_

The Guardian did a facepalm. "Argh!"

Weir put her hand on the Guardian's shoulder, "Sara, let me handle this."

The Guardian grumbled, "That would be wise. I am in a very foul mood right now."

"I'll join you in the VR room in a minute." Weir walked into the Operations Center to deal with McKay. Meanwhile, the Guardian allowed Vala to drag her to the stairs.

* * *

The Guardian strode with purpose into the VR room just in time to see Daniel Jackson yelling furiously at the ceiling, "I know you're still here! You aren't fooling anybody!"

He spotted the Guardian watching him. "Oh, uh, hi." He pointed up. "She's still here."

"Who are you talking to?"

"Well I don't know what name she is calling herself these days but at one point in history her name was Morgan Le Fay."

The Guardian gave him a skeptical look. She raised her wrist imager and it whirled to a page. She scanned it. "Are you referring to the myth of King Arthur?"

"It's no myth. I mean he was real, and so was she," he turned upward again, "Isn't that right!?"

"Doctor Jackson, what makes you so sure that she is here?"

"Because she handed us the names and gate addresses of the two planets that we were looking for right off the bat. It was too easy."

"Too easy?"

"Guardian, answer me this: Can your Lantean systems translate, in real time, words spoken in Old English - a language that did not exist until 8000 years *after* the Ancients abandoned you?"

The Guardian admitted, "It cannot."

"Then she's faking it. You claimed they never contacted you."

"No, they never did."

"Well, it seems like at least one of your people is here in the room with us now." He yelled upward, "So how come you folks are chatting with me and not with her, huh?"

"Because I can't be easily fooled." The Guardian removed her limiter and scanned the room.

Her eyes narrowed as she turned and addressed the empty dias, "Aha, found you. Listen, I don't know who you are or what games you are playing, but you've been caught by the good doctor here. So come out! Show yourself!"

She stood before them.

She was no longer a hologram but was now fully corporeal, a woman with dark hair wearing a late-Lantean white frock.

She made a small smile, { Hello, my little white jumping tiger kitten*5. It is good to see you again. }

{ Why are you here? }

Vala pointed, "That's her! Morgan Le Fay!"

The Guardian crossed her arms, "That's my childhood teacher."

"Teacher?"

"Her name is Ganos Lal. Whenever my father let me out of the box, she led the group sessions in this very room with me and the other children. It was considered important for our social development."

The Guardian turned to Lal and became angry, { And then one day you left me unattended, and they attacked me! }

{ I am so sorry, little one. }

{ What is going on here? Do you know how many rules you are violating right now? How did you even get here? The _Vigilante_ aren't allowed to leave their home galaxy! }

{ Again I am very sorry, but you do not understand the situation... }

{ Oh I think I do. Daniel Jackson is searching for an anti-Ori weapon. You left clues that pointed to Atlantis. It's not hard to guess why... }

{ Please.. }

{ You know very well that the Forbidden Archives contains the prototype for an Ascendant Neutralizer, a device that can short-circuit the energy pattern of every Ascendant within a whole galaxy. It can wipe out all the Originalists in one stroke! }

{ Yes. }

{ That is in fact the 'anti-Ori weapon' that Jackson is talking about, correct? }

{ It is. High Councillor Moros, going by the name Merlin, was attempting to recreate it from memory during his time on Earth. }

{ I remember when he asked me to give him a tour of the Forbidden Archives. Only the High Councillor had that privilege. He was particularly interested in the Ascendant Neutralizer. I remember that he even picked it up. }

{ I was sent to stop him from rebuilding it. }

{ Obviously you had a change of heart. Now you've coaxed Daniel Jackson to Atlantis so you can just hand it to him. }

Vala whispered over to Jackson, "Daniel, what is going on? They are just standing there. Nobody is talking."

He whispered back, "Unless I miss my guess, they are having an argument."

"They are?"

"Look at the Guardian's body language," He sighed to himself, "I would give my right arm to be able to listen in on that conversation right now."

{ You must not give Daniel Jackson the Ascendant Neutralizer, nor can you help him rebuild it. }

{ What? You led Daniel Jackson here! }

{ He must do it on his own. }

{ Why? This is already a complete violation of every rule in the book! }

{ Given the situation, the Others have allowed me to give him a hint. But no further. }

Just then Elizabeth Weir walked in, "Sara, I took care of Rodney for you. He'll behave.."

Ganos Lal's face had a look of surprised recognition, "Elizabeth? What are you doing here..?" Realizing her blunder she clammed up and looked away.

Weir was stunned, "Uh, I'm sorry, but have we met before?"

The Guardian's face whipped back and forth between Lal and Weir, "What.. you knew her..?"

{ I don't believe this! You violated the rule of non-interference, and the rule against using or building devices in the Forbidden Archives, and now the rule against retrograde time travel? Did all the _Vigilante_ go insane? }

{ The time travel was your father's doing, not mine. Moros had strongly reprimanded him for it. }

{ Fine, whatever. But you still need to explain yourself! }

{ As I was trying to say, you don't understand the situation.. }

"No, speak aloud. I want the humans to hear your explanation as well."

Lal addressed them all, "Very well, I will explain as much as I can."

The Guardian pleaded, "First, please, tell me what happened to my father. Why did he never contact me?"

"When we arrived on Terra we found it to be a cold, harsh, desolate world. We searched the defense station at the South Pole, but where we expected to find three _Potentias_ stored away we found only the one. Moros decreed that we could not afford to waste its energy just to contact you.

"Soon afterward, your father reconstructed his time machine, and he offered to lead our people into the far future to escape. Most of them accepted his offer and fled. They are gone now, unreachable in the depths of time, never to return.

"Only a handful of us stayed behind, including Moros and myself. We spread apart and tried to plant the seeds of civilization among the early tribes of Man, but the humans of that era were barbaric beyond all reason. Then an ice comet hit the ocean, flooding every coastline and causing torrential planet-wide rains. I managed to Ascend just before the flood waters reached me. Moros did the same in his own village. And so we took our place with the Others of the Milky Way."

Vala asked, "So what's Ascension like? When you are with the Others, I mean?"

Lal just looked at her and remained silent.

Jackson ruminated, "Nope, she won't tell us."

"But Daniel, you were up there too, right?"

"Yeah, but they took my memories away. All I have is this vague feeling, sort of like sitting in a booth in a cheap cafe where nobody is talking because there is nothing to say. Everybody just looks at their lunch menus. And there's a TV in the corner broadcasting the news from Earth but nobody is paying attention. At least that's how I imagined it felt like."

"Ew, sounds boring."

"I'm just glad they let me leave."

The Guardian wondered, "Lal, how are you even here? Ascended beings are not allowed to leave their home galaxy."

"I came aboard the _Odyssey_. I was given permission by the Others in this galaxy to visit for a short time. The Others in the Milky Way do not know I am here."

Vala was curious, "But won't the Others in the Milky Way notice that you had left? Wonder where you went?"

"It is complicated.."

The Guardian interrupted, "Nevermind that. Tell us about Moros."

"Well, thousands of years after he had Ascended, sensing that the Ori would one day be a threat, Moros decided to return to Earth."

Jackson interjected, "As Merlin."

"Yes. I was sent to Britain as Morgan Le Fay to oppose Merlin. It was because Moros had violated our laws by retaining the knowledge that he had gained as one of the Ascended when he resumed physical form, and he used that forbidden knowledge to create his Ori-killing superweapon."

Jackson summarized, "So you violated your law because he violated it first?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Vala asked, "But didn't the Ori violate it before him? He was using the same justification that you are."

Lal sighed, "That path spirals down to ruin for us all. "

Jackson groused, "So instead you just throw us a clue. You know, I am getting sick and tired of all these hidden clues and cryptic messages."

"Doctor Jackson, it is necessary. Higher Beings must use a light touch when dealing with the mortal races. Many argue that even this much help is too much."

"Why?"

"Because it would escalate and overwhelm everything. A conflict between Ascended beings must never happen. None of you would survive, nor would we."

Jackson nodded, "I get it. It's the MAD doctrine, just like during the Cold War."

The Guardian asked, "MAD?"

Weir explained it, "Mutual Assured Destruction. It was the unspoken and unwritten doctrine during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II, when both sides had amassed enough nuclear weaponry to obliterate the other side ten times over. Both sides knew that the counterattack would be so devastating that neither side would dare attack first. "

Jackson mused, "A lot of people thought that MAD was, well, crazy."

"But it did work," Weir spoke as a diplomat, "No nuclear weapon was ever launched by either side."

The Guardian took a step towards Lal and said accusingly, "But now here you are, quietly encouraging the humans to try to rebuild what is basically a pre-emptive first-strike nuclear weapon against the Ori. The risks you are taking..."

"Little one, the Ori have already crossed the line. They have invaded my galaxy with their Priors and their ships on a massive scale. They claim it is not direct interference because they themselves are not present, but the argument is mere sophistry."

Jackson understood, "The Ori think you won't do anything because you never have in the past. They are gambling on the fact you want to avoid war at any cost. It's like Hitler invading the Sudetenland, testing British and French resolve, and watching them cave so they become even more emboldened."

"Doctor Jackson, a war between Ascended beings is too terrible to even contemplate. Both the Milky Way and the Ori Galaxy would be destroyed, with no sentient life left in either one."

"So by giving us a hint in our search you are basically walking up to the line without actually crossing it. At least in your view."

"Something like that, yes."

"I still don't get it. Your doctrine of non-interference in our little affairs. It really does make you look like cowards."

"Doctor Jackson, the Alterans and the Originalists have been on opposing sides of a basic philosophical disagreement, a fundamental one, that goes all the way back to the Age of Beginnings."

Jackson pressed his lips, "I suppose this is another one of your great secrets that you are hiding from us?"

"Not really, Doctor. Our reason is obvious, or should be, particularly to you."

He replied sarcastically, "Well I am sorry if I missed it. Do tell."

"You know that the Ori subjugate humans by force, brutally, forcing them to submit to their mastery on pain of death. They want slaves, minions, to feed upon their psychic energy. So they lie, offering false promises of a paradise for those who submit to their utter domination, and painful death for those who do not."

"Their philosophy is based on power and domination."

"Yes. Ours is the opposite. We believe in the freedom of each individual to make his or her own choices and decisions, moral or otherwise."

The Guardian added, "Alterans believe strongly in free will."

"Why?"

"Well, Lal would say it is necessary in order for humanity to grow and learn, to evolve as a species. While that might be true, now that I've lived among the Tau'ri and studied your philosophical and religious systems, and given what I know already about the _Vigilante_ and how they want to try to imitate the much higher _Excogitatoris_ , I think I can give you another, deeper, explanation."

They waited.

 _"He wants a relationship with us. Friends to chat with. It's because He loves us."_

 _"Friends, not supplicants?"_

 _"No, no, not by force if that's what you mean. Nothing like the Goa'uld. The exact opposite in fact."_

 _"You are saying that The Designer wants friends, companions, who will freely choose to enter into a personal relationship with Him?"_

 _"Exactly. Because that is what makes our relationship with Him all the more special, more precious, in His eyes. A forced confession is worthless, worse than worthless actually."_

The room was silent.

Lal finally said quietly to no one in particular, "We are like small children imitating our parents.."

The Guardian thought hard, { Ascension is the conversion of matter to energy. Once you Ascend you are stuck forever with the Others, sitting in Jackson's little cafe, watching everything, doing nothing. In terms of leaving the physical universe, of escaping it and reaching higher levels of reality that exist outside of it, Ascension is a dead end. }

Lal was silent.

{ I am right, aren't I? } The Guardian pressed her, { You are like a school of fish who had escaped from an ocean full of dangerous sharks - the Wraith, the Replicators - by jumping up into a fishbowl. There you swim in circles, you watch, safe behind its glass walls, well fed, and do nothing. You just swim round and round all day in your little bowl. }

Lal remained silent.

{ No wonder Doctor Jackson begged to leave that place. I think I would want to leave too. }

{ Little kitten, the humans cannot Ascend without help. Jackson was assisted by Oma Desala, who had also helped Anubis in his partial Ascension. It was a mistake for Oma to lift them up, to share our velvet trap. }

{ So it is indeed a trap. }

Lal sighed, { Yes, it can be seen that way, although it is a comfortable one. Eventually our existence as pure energy dissipates due to the laws of thermodynamics. Ascension is basically a spiritual cul-de-sac. Once you elect to Ascend, it is as high as you are ever allowed to go. You cannot go any higher. After a dozen or so millennia you eventually fade away. }

{ And the humans? }

Vala leaned over to Jackson, "Daniel, they're not speaking."

"Shush, let them work it out."

"Work what out?"

"No idea. Just be quiet."

The Guardian explained, { The Tau'ri yearn to reach out to contact The Designer, the One that exists outside of the physical universe. They do so with a yearning that seems stronger with them than any other species or world that I know of, or even heard of. I have seen it first hand right here in Altlantis. }

{ Yes, they are such strange creatures, straddling the dividing line. So many of the Tau'ri want to transcend and join with The Designer. }

{ They are an amazing people. I am proud to be serving with them, defending my city with them, helping them with their mission. }

{ We know, little kitten. The Pegasus _Vilgilante_ have been watching your interaction with them with interest since your awakening. }

{ They have? }

{ Your awakening has had more impact than you realize in Pegasus. You've changed whole worlds, saved so many human lives. }

Lal switched to speaking aloud again, "They tell me that you are becoming one of them, thinking like them, that you are becoming more human than Lantean now."

The Guardian wasn't sure how to take that remark, "What? Are you trying to insult me?"

"It is simply an observation made by the Others in Pegasus, not me. I assure you that no insult is intended." She added, "In fact, I suspect that in some ways they actually envy you."

Jackson jumped in, "Guardian, Ganos Lal, both of you, please, just stop and listen to me. I need your help. Earth needs your help. The whole Milky Way Galaxy needs your help. Guardian, I could tell just by watching the changes in your facial expression during your mental conversation that you know what is going on here. You know about Merlin, and you know about his anti-Ori weapon. I am guessing you either know how to rebuild it or know at least which planet we should go to find it."

Vala chimed in, pointing at the Guardian, "She's physical, just like us. She can tell us if she wants. You Ascended beings can't stop her."

Lal finally noticed the female thief, "Excuse me?"

"I said you can't stop her. Because that would be interfering, right? Violating your basic law!"

{ Little one, you must not give Doctor Jackson the Ascendant Neutralizer, nor can you help him build one. }

{ Are you ordering me? You can't do that. Vala is right, the rule of non-interference is absolute and applies to all contact with corporeal beings - human, Lantean, anyone, including me. I am one of them. You can't order me to do anything. You shouldn't even be talking to me. I am physical and unfettered. None of the rules regarding Ascended beings even applies to me! }

{ Little one, you need to understand your unique position. I wish I could explain. All I can tell you is that you must not interfere with Doctor Jackson's quest. }

{ Look, you cannot give me an order like that! I am the Guardian of Atlantis. I am its sovereign ruler and the owner of its archives. You and the Others have no authority here. You cannot order me to do anything in my city. You are not even supposed to be here! I ought to kick you out of my city just for revealing yourself, for violating the rule of non-interference as a trespasser. }

{ You simply don't understand. But if it helps you I will rephrase: Please, do not help them. }

{ That's better. } The Guardian was sympathetic, { Look, I do understand your reluctance to help them, and I agree in principle regarding the rule of non-interference, but the stakes are so high... }

{ No. You must not help them. }

{ And if I try to help them anyway? }

{ All I can say is that there will be consequences, terrible ones, both for you and for the Tau'ri. }

She studied Lal carefully. She could tell that although the Ascended being was not revealing everything, she was being sincere.

{ I see. Very well, I will accede to your request. }

Jackson saw the Guardian's shoulders droop slightly. He could tell that, whatever prohibition Lal was placing on her, that she had just acquiesced to it.

Jackson jumped in again and addressed Lal, "Look, I know what we're asking you to do. You're afraid that the Others will step in and stop you from helping us. But maybe, maybe they just need someone to cross that imaginary line instead of just walking it. There must be others among you just waiting to follow your example."

Lal sighed, "I can't.."

Weir pleaded, "You have been allowed to go this far, yes? And what Vala said is true, correct? You can't help us, but maybe the Guardian can? She is not under your laws."

Lal appeared to waver, "I cannot ask her to.."

"Please? The entire Milky Way Galaxy is at stake and everyone in it. It is your galaxy too, and our home."

Lal saw the pleading eyes of Weir and Jackson. Her heart broke for them.

She came to a snap decision and spoke quickly to Jackson, "Listen to me, ask the Guardian to..."

There was a sudden flash of light and she disappeared.

Weir asked, "What just happened?"

Jackson sighed, "They stopped her. The Others. I don't think we'll ever see her again."

The Guardian was stunned. She recovered quickly, "I'm sorry."

Jackson turned and focused his pleas on her, "You must have known what Lal was going to ask you..."

The Guardian's face grew hard. "As I said, I am sorry."

"So you won't help us either?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it would be cheating."

"Cheating?"

"It's all I ever do. I cheat. I cheat with my powers and with my tricks and my devices. But, no, not this time. My heart tells me it would be wrong, even if I do not fully understand why."

Jackson's head dropped. He sounded bitter, "Well I do know one thing, you haven't turned into a human," He clenched his fists, "You are still an Ancient."

"How so?"

He raised his head and gave her a fierce look, "Because if you won't help us, then you are no better than they are."

The Guardian turned away.

He spoke to her back, "Congratulations, you really are a Lantean."

* * *

 **A/R:**

* Nu 23:23

** See SG-1 Season 6 Episode 2, "Redemption, Part 2"

*** I think that Genie looks a lot like the pop singer Agnetha Fältskog in the 1970s musical group ABBA. See ABBA - Waterloo on YouTube. (Choose the version with the brown curtains.) That video is basically Genie doing her singing and dancing act during the talent contest.

*4 There are a lot of SGA fanfics that depict Atlantis containing a self-aware AI. However, we never saw any evidence of this in the TV series. The Trust was able to hack the city's operating system pretty easily to plant their bomb, and if Atlantis had an AI that was actually sentient and self-aware (i.e., able to learn, study itself, and rewrite itself) it should have been able to disarm the bomb itself, or at least warn about it. The city also did not react to stop the Wraith during their invasion of the city (e.g., close doors on them, attack them with internal defenses) even with a ZPM installed.

*5 Ganos Lal is using the Guardian's true secret private name (translated).


	21. Chapter 21: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

**Chapter 21: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy**

The Guardian slid open the door with her bare hands. She beckoned Samantha Carter to come inside. It was dark.

"This is the lab I wanted to show you," The Guardian's biolight in her hand lit up the room, "I installed a battery pack after I unsealed this lab. Just a moment." She walked inside and flipped a switch and the room lights went on. "There's still no power or data connection to this section from the main complex; it's completely cut off." The lack of power was why the Expedition had not bothered to explore it yet.

The various instruments and data panels inside the lab started to illuminate themselves. Carter turned and looked around the room in wonder. "What is this place?"

The Guardian walked up to one of the display panels and pushed a button. An image of a hypermanifold appeared next to a tesseract, and the latter started to deform and twist inward on itself in a mind-boggling display of impossible right-angle geometric transformations.*

Carter peered at the screen. "Sara, is this what I think it is?"

The Guardian beamed, "Yes. Higher dimensionality deformations. This is the 4D lab."

"Wow. So this is where the Ancients engineered your transporters?"

"Yes, I think so. They drilled 4D tunnels to interconnect the transporters like elevators. Simple mechanical motion through four dimensions."

"How did they do it?"

"You should know, Sam."

Carter was surprised, "Me?"

"Your paper on the Carter Dimensional Shift uses the same basic theory."

"But that kind of dimensional shift requires a lot of power to create it and even more to maintain the shift. It's not stable. When the power drops it reverts back. The Atlantis transporters require very little power. So how do you..."

".. push a physical elevator at right angles to reality?"

"Well, yeah. How?"

The Guardian opened a drawer and pulled out a small blue crystal. She showed it to Carter. "This material is called illudium. Somehow it provides access to the fourth dimension. I know nothing of its physical properties, how to manufacture it, or how it functions." She offered the crystal to Carter. "Maybe you can figure out its properties? Learn how it works?"

Carter pulled her hand back, "Sara, I can't possibly accept this. That crystal has to be priceless."

"I want you to have it. You know more about the theory of dimensional shifts and the construction of hypermanifolds than anyone else I know. You are way ahead of your colleagues in this field of research. You deserve to have it. Maybe you can figure out its structure, and perhaps even learn how to make more of it?"

"Wow. This is an amazing offer. Okay, I'll analyze it and see what I can find." Carter took the blue crystal from the Guardian.

"Great! I'll also send a copy of the lab data to the SGC. Perhaps Doctor Jackson will offer to help translate it for you?"

"He definitely will. Thank you so much. Sara, I really appreciate this." Carter gave her a quick hug.

"My treat," Sara pulled back, "I also want to show you another secret - my new favorite pet."

"Your favorite pet?"

"Yes! You have your cat Sooty, and now I have my favorite pet too. He's very intelligent just like Sooty. And he is soooo cute."

"Okay, let's go see it."

"It's right here."

Carter looked around in confusion, "Where?"

The Guardian's eyes flashed white. A reverberating voice spoke, "Hello, Colonel Carter. It is so nice to meet you again."

Carter staggered backwards in alarm, "Oh my god. You have a Goa'uld symbiont."

The Guardian's voice returned to normal, "Relax. Osiris is docile and is completely subservient to me."

The reverberating voice said, "I am honored to be serving the great _Anquietas_. This is far more satisfying for me than when I served Baal."

The Guardian tried to reassure her friend, "Don't worry, it's safe. The Goa'uld are good about respecting higher authority," She leaned in and added quietly, "Plus I think he's a total sweetie."

Carter was still shaken, "Sara, listen to me, be careful. He might seem cute to you now, but you really shouldn't have a symbiont inside your body like that. I once had one myself, a Tok'ra, and it was not healthy for me**. It is medically documented that long term exposure to a symbiont can cause permanent physical dependency on it."

"I know that. I've read your reports. Don't worry, I plan to use him sparingly - only when I think I need a bit of extra ooomph, such as more physical strength or higher mental powers. He is going to be one of my secret cheats that I keep in reserve. I don't intend to use him often."

"Uh, that's wise. I agree that you should keep this particular cheat a secret."

"You do?"

"Osiris once inhabited the body of Daniel's old girlfriend, and let's just say that it didn't end well. Look, I know that you and Daniel still don't get along, and this won't help mend things if he found out, believe me."

"Oh, I see." The Guardian was sympathetic to Jackson's point of view regarding the Ori and did want to mend fences with him. "Anyway, I borrowed my little snake buddy from the Archives just to show you how cute he is."

"Uh, yes, he's very nice." Carter was still nervous, "Maybe you should put him back now?"

The Guardian sighed, "Oh very well. I'll return him to his stasis tank and meet you up in the Control Room in 15 minutes."

The Guardian walked out. She sighed to herself, { Sorry, little buddy. They just don't appreciate how adorable you are. }

{ I don't mind. }

* * *

GA-1 was holding a private meeting in the main conference room. Harry Maybourne was finishing up his report to the group regarding the status of their new counter-intelligence network.

He explained to them that so far all was proceeding smoothly, with the spy cells replicating themselves across the human worlds in the Pegasus Galaxy.

The Guardian was uncomfortable with how Maybourne had so liberally promoted her 'White Rider' namesake, making her sound so much larger than life in his recruiting efforts, but she had to admit it was effective. That plus the humans' shared hatred of the Wraith provided the glue that bound the cells together.

Maybourne's hands were folded in front of him as he addressed the table. "We are already getting initial reports."

The Guardian asked, "What news?"

"It's quiet out there. Too quiet."

Teyla added, "I agree, it is worrisome."

"No cullings," Ronon shrugged, "Hey, that sounds good to me. Maybe the Wraith have all gone back to sleep?"

The Guardian shook her head, "No. It's something else."

Maybourne replied, "Sara is right. Their goals have not changed. They still want Earth, they think Atlantis was destroyed, they know you survived, and they believe that you had escaped to some other world in Pegasus and are currently in hiding. Right now they should be looking for you, hunting for you. They aren't. Why not?"

"All good points. Harry, what's your best guess?"

"Well, you have to look at the situation from their point of view. The siege of Atlantis was a major military defeat. They failed to capture you, or the city, or the gate, or Earth. They believe that the city and the gate were destroyed in the skirmish so Earth is now beyond their reach. They lost several capital ships in the battle, and all they got in return was some stolen equipment, that's it. Historically when a dictatorial regime suffers such a humiliating defeat there is usually a political purge, with blame passed around, punishments meted out, typically..."

Ronon completed the thought, ".. the torture and executions of the commanders as scapegoats."

"Yes. That alone could explain the lack of activity."

The Guardian thought about 'Todd'. She felt that he had likely survived any purge. She wondered what he was doing right now.

Teyla said, "But not all the Wraith participated in the attack. Only the faction led by Queen Death."

The Guardian explained, "But now Queen Death appears weak. The other Wraith factions might be moving against her. There could be a huge space battle going on right now that we know nothing about."

Maybourne said, "We need to insert a mole into the Wraith hive system. Find out what's going on from the inside," He sighed, "I have no idea how to turn a Wraith." He looked at Ronon and Teyla, "Any suggestions?"

Ronon snorted, "Are you kidding? Getting a Wraith to betray his own kind to humans?"

Teyla agreed, "That has never happened in our history. It would be like getting a hunter to betray his party to the hunted prey."

Maybourne scratched his red beard, "Okay, hmm." He looked at the Guardian, "What about your mind powers? Can you, I dunno, hypnotize a Wraith, subvert it to your will somehow?"

"I can dominate the will only of the weak minded."

"Like a Jedi mind trick then. I see."

By now the Guardian had watched enough of the Star Wars films during Sheppard's movie nights that she was starting to become familiar with the references. "Something like that. However, it would not work permanently except on a low-level drone. A commander would sense it and react. I can forcefully dominate a commander's will and hold him for maybe an hour, a queen for a few minutes, but I would soon get tired."

"No, we need a permanent mole that is high up. Sara, if you can't turn one with your mind powers then we will need a willing one, planted at a high level. One is enough."

"Just one?"

"In the right place, yes. The Soviets had placed a single spy, Kim Philby, inside of MI6 who successfully subverted British Intelligence for decades. The British author John le Carré wrote a famous spy novel based on Philby entitled, _Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy_ (1974). Philby was devastating for the Brits."

Maybourne concluded, "We need to get our own Philby embedded inside the Wraith command structure."

Ronon rolled his eyes, "Well, good luck with that."

The Guardian started to think.

* * *

The meeting had ended with Ronon and Teyla leaving to go off-world together to continue to spread the cell network.

Maybourne stayed behind with the Guardian.

She asked Maybourne quietly, "No news about the hybrid?"

"No. It's probably too soon."

She moved to sit next to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and asked him gently, "How's it going?"

He understood. "Good. This gig is keeping me clean. No urges. Thanks, Sara."

It was now his turn to ask, "And how are you doing?"

Silence.

She looked down, { I still don't trust myself. }

Maybourne knew about the temptations that were haunting her. No one else did.

{ Sara.. }

{ They should never have put me in charge of the Archives. }

{ Hey, you were exactly the right person for the job. Your creators knew that as Guardian you had no reason to ever touch those nasty artifacts. }

{ Now I do. Now I have billions of reasons. }

{ Sara, the fact that you're worried about it is a healthy sign... } He paused and grimaced.

"Harry, what's wrong?"

He held pressed a finger into the side of his temple, "Nothing, just another migraine."

The Guardian grew concerned, "Have you seen Doctor Beckett yet?"

"I took aspirin. It passes."

She sensed it, the blinding pain. "My word, how long has it been this bad?"

"Not long.."

She stood up. "Go see Beckett right now!"

"It'll pass."

"Go to the infirmary."

"I'll be okay.."

She put her hands on her hips, "Go right now or I'll carry you there."

He briefly grinned at the mental image of his corpulent frame being carried by the relatively petite girl, then he grimaced again. He got up. "Fine, fine. I'm going." He left leaving the doors open.

The Guardian was now sitting alone at the conference table. She slowly rested her head on her hands, closed her eyes, and let her depression wash over her.

She was still not sleeping properly. Each night she had a fitful dream of a burning village, or of being captured and vivisected by leering Wraith, or of carrying her original lover's body upstairs to rail at the heavens from the rooftop, or of other images that were muddy and indistinct, tinged with feelings of madness and rage. She couldn't tell which were imaginary and which were real.

She then thought of Rodney, and a smile slowly drew itself upon her features. With her eyes still closed she thought warmly about the love of her life, the one bright spot that she felt made her existence bearable: Rodney McKay, the genius man-child who loved her so deeply.

Earlier that day McKay had returned from the _Odyssey_ mission bragging to her proudly about how he now had his own kill count: the destruction of one Wraith cruiser and one Ori battleship, and that the Ori battleship had to count as least as much as two hive ships so that he was catching up to her own count of two hive ships and five cruisers. He then magnanimously offered to pool their kills and jointly paint them on Tarai to beat Sheppard, but she gently reminded him that the credit needed to instead be shared with Samantha Carter and the crew of the _Odyssey_ and that that any stenciling of kills ought go on the _Odyssey_ 's hull, not Tarai's.

She recalled how Elizabeth Weir had stood at the South Pier waiting for McKay to disembark, then she had crooked a finger at him and hauled him back to her office for a lengthy verbal reprimand regarding his unprofessional behavior during the mission, with the Guardian staying wisely out of it. Instead the Guardian had grabbed Samantha Carter's wrist to give her the promised deluxe tour of the city while Weir was still busy chewing out McKay.

She loved Rodney, flaws and all. It included his towering pride regarding his own genius intellect, which she found to be endearing rather than off-putting. He was truly brilliant in his own way, able to make breathtakingly high intuitive leaps to reach conclusions given the barest of clues. His mind stimulated her own with his rapid rat-tat-tat of ideas, spoken breathlessly fast, and she did the same for him with her own more careful observations delivered in her own measured way. She loved their endless geek-outs, which to her felt like the perfect pairing of two beautiful minds, each complementing the other in a synergy that was greater than their sum as they continued to make fantastic scientific discoveries that neither one of them could have done on their own.

McKay was particularly obsessed with solving the power generation problem. Atlantis was actually a spaceship, but its mighty engines needed three ZPMs for liftoff and flight into hyperspace. They only had one. The need was urgent, as the Wraith would eventually figure out McKay's deception, that the city was not in fact destroyed by a nuclear bomb. The city needed a way to flee and hide on a new world, and for that it needed an enormous power source that it still did not have.

She and McKay had worked on the power problem endlessly, proposing theory upon theory, including innovative theories involving tapping into subspace for drawing power. Project Arcturus on Doranda had attempted to do so from their own universe, but they realized the theory was fundamentally flawed because of what McKay had euphemistically called the 'blowback problem', the buildup and discharge of highly exotic particles as a waste product of the power draw. During their disastrous experiment it had built up enough waste energy to destroy several solar systems.

They then hit on the idea of drawing the power from an alternate universe instead of their own, with the waste blowback being dumped there instead. At first the idea seemed to have considerable promise and they became excited, but upon further joint investigation they found that due to what McKay called 'universal convergence' any alternate universe (the choice of which would be uncontrollable) was likely to be highly isomorphic to their own, and could easily have life in it. The Guardian explained about the Quantum Mirror in the Forbidden Archives, which demonstrated this convergence effect all too well. McKay explained to her how Samantha Carter had discovered their own Quantum Mirror in the Milky Way Galaxy with equally disastrous consequences***. The Guardian became worried and pressed him about it, and she was relieved to hear that General Hammond had eventually ordered that the dangerous object be destroyed*4.

The alternative was to find two more ZPMs somewhere. Reporting the news of any such new discovery was a top priority of Maybourne's new spy network.

The Guardian's head continued to rest gently on the conference room's table, with her pleasant smile showing upon her features as she continued to indulge in her private reverie about her beloved Rodney. The _Odyssey_ had since departed, and Sheppard and McKay were now upstairs in the main hangar preparing to leave in a jumper to resume their search to collect the 24 space gates that were necessary to construct (at least on the Pegasus side) the new inter-galactic CMM bridge, a long-term mission that was interrupted only due to the _Odyssey_ 's visit.

She continued to rest her head on the conference room's large table lost in thought when Daniel Jackson entered the room.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* See the article Tesseract at Wikipedia. The article shows an animation of a tesseract (a 4D cube) performing a simple rotation around one axis. Watch the animation carefully. Next, watch it again while trying to imagine that all the angles remain at a constant 90 degrees during the entire rotation. If you can mentally do that then congratulations, you now understand a simple rotation in 4 dimensions.

** See the SG-1 episode S02E02, "In the Line of Duty"

*** See the SG-1 episode S03E06, "Point of View"

*4 See the SG-1 episode S09E13, "Ripple Effect"


	22. Chapter 22: Pretty Eyes

**Chapter 22: Pretty Eyes**

Daniel Jackson was studying his handheld data tablet when he walked past the main conference room and noticed that the doors were open. He glanced inside and was surprised to see a lone figure dressed in white inside, seated alone, resting her head on the large tabletop.

Curious, Jackson stopped. He turned and looked around, and seeing no one else nearby he decided to walk inside.

The girl in white was seated at the head of the table. He saw that her eyes were still closed, her breathing steady and regular. She did not react to his presence.

He sat quietly a few chairs down.

"I am not asleep if that is what you are wondering." She spoke without opening her eyes.

Jackson was a bit startled. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to intrude."

"Yes you did." She finally raised her head and rubbed her eyes open.

He looked embarrassed.

The Guardian yawned and pushed herself upright. She sighed, "Doctor Jackson, you need to learn a few things if you want to work with me."

"Sorry."

"No you aren't."

"Sorry!"

"That's better. Look, I take no offense, but when speaking to me you must always be honest. That is rule number one. I know you are only simply trying to be polite, but I do not like to be told lies."

Jackson felt chagrined about dealing with the living lie detector. She obviously did not like even polite fibs.

She added, "As you can see, I am a rather direct speaker. If I say something that sounds rude to you, I assure you that it is not intentional. It's just the way I am."

He said wryly, "I can tell. You're obviously not a typical Lantean."

"No, I am not. Up until now I have lived my whole life alone. Because of that I don't work well with strangers. I am still learning how to interact casually with people with whom I am not well acquainted: speaking polite phrases, giving false flatteries, using pleasant language, and engaging in idle chit-chat."

"I understand."

She stared at him hard. "Doctor Jackson, isn't the weather nice today?" She continued to stare at him.

He felt unnerved. "Huh?"

"You see? I'm awful."

He grinned, "Yeah, you really suck at making small talk."

For the first time she gave him a genuine smile. The whole room brightened. "I really do suck at it. Because of that I tend to come off appearing to be rather standoffish or brusque, sometimes to the point of looking rude. It's not intentional and I mean no disrespect."

"I think I get it now. So for us to work together I need to be really honest with you, and you will be really honest with me, and we will both throw etiquette out the window, right?"

She bounced in her seat, "Yes!"

He rubbed his hands together, "Good. We're making progress," He thought a moment, "Since you and I have agreed to be so honest with each other, in the interest of upholding that agreement I feel that I should disclose something to you."

"About what?"

"About Vala."

"Yes. She is in the mess hall right now chatting with several members of the Expedition."

"Don't worry, there's a couple of Marines always nearby and she's behaving herself."

"I know she is. She has been wandering around the city, meeting and chatting with people seemingly at random, both with the Expedition and with the Athosians."

"You are well informed."

"I know you sent her on a mission."

"Yeah, I did."

"Good, you are being honest. Vala has been going around asking questions about me, trying to get the 'scuttlebutt' on me, as John Sheppard would say."

"Yeah."

"Vala is a professional thief and con-artist. She is observant and has good people-reading skills. She uses her ditzy persona to get her marks to lower their guard, then she uses her skills to swindle them. I suspect that she is rather good at it."

Jackson looked down and made a small laugh, "No argument there. Look, I blew it. Right after we met, Vala took me aside and told me that I made a rotten impression on you. She told me that I was basically pushing all your buttons exactly the wrong way."

"She is correct, you were."

"Yeah. Ugh. I was talking down to you like you were a kid, a kid with an IQ of 200, but still a kid. Man, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize."

"I didn't realize how patronizing I must have sounded talking down to you like that. Vala thinks you are older than you look and act."

"I am."

"How old are you really?"

"Doctor Jackson, I have been told that it is very rude to ask a girl her about her age."

"Well, since we're doing the whole brutal-honesty thing I thought I might ask anyway."

She paused, then she admitted, "My physiological age is locked at 20. My actual biological age is about 400."

He was surprised, "400? Oh man, did I totally misread you. In your video I saw you nervously reading from that piece of paper, looking down at it like a frightened teenager who was in way over her head. I know you're an orphan too, sort of, so I tried to be fatherly to you. I had you pegged as a child prodigy. Boy was I wrong."

She looked away, "No, sometimes I do feel young. Especially when I'm off duty. I have almost no life experience outside of the city."

"So you are young at heart then?"

"When I am off duty, yes. However..."

She turned back and he saw that her face changed.

".. when I on duty - when I encounter an enemy such as the Wraith - then I am ageless."

She exhaled, allowing her feral nature to rise up. Her grin was no longer that of cheerful exuberant woman. It was the dark grin of a predator, teeth bared, nostrils flaring.

Jackson's eyes widened in fear. Despite the fact that he was safely sitting several chairs away, he still unconsciously pushed his own chair away from her.

The Guardian's predatory facial expression quickly softened, and her face switched back to a pleasant smile as if nothing happened. She appeared to enjoy his reaction. She asked, "So, what did Vala learn when she asked about me?"

Jackson recovered and pushed his chair back to its original position. He was astonished how fast she could switch between her youthful persona and her killer one. He paused, then he admitted, "Well, a lot of people - strangers to you mainly - are frankly more than a little scared of you. The fact that you can kill with your mind gets mentioned a lot. Another common rumor is that you have Weir, Sheppard, McKay, Beckett, and the rest of the senior staff all under your thumb, that Weir is afraid of you, and that the senior staff puts up a fake and cheery facade to keep you happy while walking on eggshells around you."

She looked down, "I see."

He added quickly, "But Vala says that second rumor is wrong. She says that those who actually know you, the senior staff in particular, really do like you. According to them, when you are in private with friends you are actually a very nice person, and that you're fun to be around."

She said bashfully, "Thank you," She looked up, "I'm fun? Only two people in Atlantis have ever spoken those words to me."

"Well, they should tell you that more often then."

He leaned back in his chair looking somewhat relaxed now. "You know, I can see why you and Sam hit it off so well. She's a private person like you. In public she's very reserved, but in private she has a wicked sense of humor. And she doesn't have a lot of close friends either, but those few close friendships she does have are really strong, as strong as iron in fact." He leaned forward, "I love Sam. We all do. I'm guessing it is the same with you and your friends."

She was looking down again. She said softly, "Yes.."

The room was silent.

After a minute Jackson asked quietly, "Guardian, can you and I start over?"

She looked up again, "How do you mean?"

"Look, we got off on the wrong foot, so I was wondering..."

She interrupted him, "It's Sara."

"Hmm?"

"When I'm off duty, my friends call me Sara."

He smiled, "My friends call me Daniel."

A pause.

She asked shyly, "Daniel?"

His smile grew, "Yes?"

"Daniel, I cannot help you construct your anti-Ori weapon. I'm so sorry."

"I know. I'm sorry for snapping at you about it. I was just frustrated with Lal."

She sat forward, "I wish I could help you. Very much so."

"I know, I know. They have you clamped down. It's all outside your control. We're both pawns in this dumb game."

That was not true. She stood up and moved to the chair next to him. She leaned in, "No, Daniel, we're not. And it's not a game."

She was leaning in to him uncomfortably close. He saw her face only a few inches away from his own.

For the first time he got a good close look at her.

 _My god those eyes are unreal. She's so beautiful, so innocent._

She stared at him frozen in shock for a moment. Then she jumped out of her chair.

She tapped her tiara sharply several times. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hear that!"

"Huh?"

She spoke breathlessly, "I forgot my limiter was off. It's back up at 90% now, the required level when I am among Lanteans or friends. I'm so sorry!"

"Wait, you've been listening in to my thoughts this entire time?"

"Of course I was. Before I was on my guard with a stranger. Now you are my friend. I'm very sorry for the intrusion."

He stood up as well. He looked very embarrassed, "Oh boy. Look, I didn't.."

She approached him again very closely. Too close. She apparently still hadn't learned how to keep an appropriate distance when talking with a man. He felt uncomfortable.

"Daniel, I promise I won't do it again. Don't worry about it. I'm strictly prohibited from disclosing to anyone else any personal secrets unrelated to city security. I take my vows very seriously."

"Uh, good. Sorry about my thoughts.."

She smiled at him, watching his obvious embarrassment, as she said soothingly, "That was sweet. What I pick up from strange men is usually much coarser."

He realized that this must happen a lot with her. She had probably heard every sexist or derogatory term under the sun countless times. And she was married too. No, she wasn't so innocent after all.

She smiled, "Sam was right. You're a nice guy. Even your thoughts are nice."

She decided to have some fun, { So, you think my eyes are pretty? } She batted them for him.

She expected him to squawk in surprise at hearing her voice inside his head, but he didn't react that way. He didn't miss a beat. { Yeah. They're amazing. }

{ Rodney says it's my best feature. }

Jackson grinned inwardly. Yes, Vala said that she was fun in private. She probably didn't even realize that she was inadvertently flirting with him.

She wondered, { Daniel, you've obviously spoken using your mind before. With who? }

He shrugged, { I dunno. Maybe with Oma? I might have picked it up when I was Ascended. I don't remember. }

She was standing close enough to him that she had to tilt her head up to look at his face*. She frowned as she looked up, "Good grief, how tall are you?"

"Uh, I'm six foot two. Why?"

"In Pegasus you would be considered a giant. Your appearance is nothing like I expected. Before you arrived I saw your file photograph. You had long hair bangs, heavy dark eyeglasses, and a dorky expression that did not flatter you. From the photograph I imagined you to be a short nebbish bookworm."

He chuckled, "My badge photo is way out of date."

She sat down again. "You need a new one. Anyway, I am supposed to be helping you search the Lantean databases. I am sorry that I have not done so yet. You're scheduled to leave with the next gate connection tomorrow, so we should probably get started."

He sat next to her, "Good. I'm hooked in with a CDA so we can use this," He reached over for his data tablet and moved it between them. "I doubt we're going to find anything useful, but let's do it anyway. I have one day left so let's make the most of it."

"Yes, otherwise you're stuck here for two more weeks." Because of the large energy expenditure required there was only one gate connection allowed to Earth per week in alternating directions. Data could be transmitted both ways, but physical goods and personnel could move only one way. Tomorrow the gate would be connecting in the Atlantis-to-Earth direction.

"Two weeks is too long. Vala and I need to go back to the Milky Way to search those two planets to find Merlin and the weapon as soon as possible."

"Well, once the CMM Bridge is online you'll be able to visit whenever you want. Just a 30 minute hop."

"So how's that project going?"

"Rodney is very excited about it. When they finish construction he promised that he is going to take me to Las Vegas. I can't wait."

He gave her a sardonic look, "Vegas, huh. You better not gamble."

She returned his look with an innocent one, "Why not? I don't have tychokinetic powers. None of the games like blackjack or roulette involve reading minds. In blackjack the dealer doesn't see his cards until he turns them. I won't be playing poker with other players."

"Look, if McKay is so intent on taking you to Vegas it means he's probably scheming to use you somehow to make a bundle. If you beat the House too much they'll boot you and blacklist you."

"Scheming? I don't see how."

"Oh, our good Doctor McKay has somehow figured out a way to exploit your powers in Vegas. I'll bet money on it. Look, just don't do it. It's not ethical."

"All right. I won't."

"Good. Anyway, let's get started." He brought up the search page on his data tablet.

She put a gloved hand on his and she stopped him.

He looked up at her, "Sara, what is it?"

She sighed, "Before we begin, there's something that I feel that I should confess to you. About what happened between me and Lal."

He waited expectantly.

{ Daniel, you are mistaken. I am not a pawn, and neither are you. }

"But Sara, they're just manipulating us. Their puzzles, their clues. Then they sit back in their cafe and watch us run around like lab rats. They're watching us on their TV sets like an NFL football game. We're just entertainment for them."

{ That's not true. I sensed Lal's mind. I know. }

"You can do that? She's Ascended. You're not."

{ True. She has grade 10 mental powers. I only have grade 9, the maximum possible for a physical being. Her mental guard was up and so I couldn't literally read her mind, but I have enough experience that I can pick up subtle clues, small hints. I know she was under incredible pressure. I caught a bare whisper of something on the edge of perception. }

"Really?"

{ I only picked it up for a fraction of a second. It happened right as she was whisked away, a feeling. It was unmistakable. }

"From her?"

{ No. I sensed it from the Others when they took her away. }

{ Wait, stop! } He looked up worriedly at the ceiling. { Can they hear you right now? }

{ No, not like this. If they tried to tap into one of my private mental conduits I would sense it. }

{ Okay, good. } He looked back down at her. { So what did you pick up? }

{ Daniel, they are afraid. }

{ Huh? They won't do anything! }

{ That is why they are afraid. They can't do anything. They're trapped. }

{ But that makes no sense. }

{ I know. It's complicated. I'm not sure how to even explain it. }

{ I don't get it. }

{ Daniel, the point that I am trying to make is that you, unlike them, are not trapped. You are free. You are free to make your own choices. That is a very special gift. The choices you will make will likely decide the fate of the Milky Way Galaxy. }

"Great. So why me?"

{ I suppose it is a mystery. I am sure people like you have asked themselves that throughout history. The point is, you are free. And so am I. }

{ You're free too? But Lal said.. }

{ Daniel, I am a free agent just like you are. You've convinced me, and I will try to help you like Lal did. I will walk right up to the line for you just like her. Now, I won't cross that line - remember the MAD doctrine - but I will do whatever I can to help you short of crossing that line. }

{ Will you go to back to Earth with me? }

{ No. My duty is to Atlantis and to this galaxy. I foresee that the help that I will give you will be in the form of some kind of important information, not about the weapon, but something else. }

{ What kind of information? }

{ I have no idea yet. It's just a feeling I have. If I learn something that can help you I will transmit it through the gate to you. }

{ Well, I guess I'll take whatever help I can get. Thanks, Sara. }

She stretched her arms and yawned again, then she pulled the data tablet between them and brought up the search page. "Well, shall we begin?"

He scooted over. "Yeah. First, explain to me some of these search terms in the query syntax. I don't understand some of the symbols." He pointed, "Like this one and that one."

"Well, the query syntax is rather idiosyncratic. It's very old, a Middle Lantean dialect that for reasons of tradition have remained unchanged since near the end of the Age of Myth. This first symbol is actually a just a simple relational inner product operator for a data projection."

"Uh, that symbol translates as 'tree'. That makes no sense."

"Like I said, it's idiosyncratic. Anyway, the operators correspond to various flora and fauna that for historical reasons..."

It was getting late but neither one of them felt tired.

A few hours later Vala poked her head in and announced she was heading for bed. The Guardian wondered if they were sharing a suite.

The pair kept working diligently in the darkened conference room until sunrise the next morning, when they were booted out of the room at 9:00 by a bemused Doctor Weir.

Weir crossed her arms and smiled at the pair, "So, did you two find anything useful overnight?"

Jackson looked up at her blearily, "Huh? Well, uh, I learned more random trivia about the historical quirks in the evolution of the Lantean language than I ever wanted to know, and lots of interesting mythology and history, but we learned nothing at all about Merlin's weapon."

"Well, drink some coffee then, because you are scheduled to leave for Earth in one hour."

He checked the clock in the upper corner of his data tablet. "Aw, dammit."

* * *

The gate whooshed open. The Guardian stood nearby, "Daniel, you are always welcome here."

Jackson was holding his duffel bag next to Vala, who was grumpy because the Guardian had insisted on searching her. The collected 'souvenirs' had already been confiscated.

Daniel dropped his duffel bag and smiled, "Do I get a hug?"

"Yes, you do." She glomped him. She had to crane her neck up to face him, "Daniel, honestly, you are way too tall."

He laughed, "Being tall is not that great. I keep hitting my head in dig sites, and flying coach is a bitch."

They released the hug and she stood back. "Daniel, I intend to keep my promise. Check every gate transmission."

"I will."

Jackson and Vala left and the gate disengaged.

* * *

A couple hours later the Guardian was summoned up to the main hangar. She was still bleary eyed and her hair was a mess, having gotten hardly any sleep. Nevertheless she ran back as soon as she heard that AR-1 was returning from their latest mission to find space gates for the CMM Bridge.

The jumper rose up from the gate room and landed on its pad. The rear hatch opened and AR-1 walked out. She ran up to McKay and hugged him.

He returned it, "Sara, you look totally shot. Have you slept at all?"

"No, not really. Let's go back to our suite."

"Yeah, I'm beat too."

"So how did it go?"

"The mission sucked. All four planets had an indigenous population. The fourth was just a single small hamlet near their land gate**."

"Land gate? But your mission is to harvest and collect space gates, not land gates."

McKay whirled accusingly at Sheppard, "See? She agrees with me! They have a land gate so they don't need that space gate!"

Sheppard sighed, "McKay, those are the mission rules. We don't harvest gates from planets that are populated."

The Guardian shook her head, "A planet with two gates makes no sense. An incoming wormhole will only connect to one of them - the gate closest to the center of gravity. That's the land gate. The space gate will never connect."

McKay jumped up and down, "Exactly! It's superfluous!"

Sheppard said, "Well, let's go argue it with Elizabeth. C'mon."

McKay groused, "That was such a pathetic village. I can't believe that guy has five wives."

Ronon corrected him, "Six."

Sheppard chuckled to Teyla, "Yeah, and he sounded like he wanted to make you wife number seven."

Teyla gave him an annoyed look, "I assure you that is not happening."

The Guardian tilted her head, "You met a man married to six wives?"

McKay waved his hand, "The guy was a frumpy fat loser. No idea what they see in him."

Sheppard sneezed, "He claimed he had medicines that could cure my cold in six or seven days."

The Guardian frowned as Sheppard walked past her, "But a rhinovirus naturally ends its progression in about that much time.."

Sheppard ignored her, "C'mon, McKay, let's go argue this out with Elizabeth." Sheppard and McKay entered the stairwell.

The Guardian stayed behind and mused, "I'm curious to know how he has six wives. I think I'd like to meet him.."

Teyla put an arm on her shoulder, "No you would not. Believe me."

Ronon smirked, "Boss, he gets one look at you and he'll be chasing you around the gate giving you proposals until the stars fall."

"But I'm already married."

The Athosian grumbled, "I don't think it matters with him."

"But Teyla, the Bond cannot be broken. It's impossible. Rodney would have to die first." They entered the stairwell.

Before Teyla could make a suitably caustic reply they heard the sound of an argument that was already emanating from Weir's office below them.

Ronon grunted, "Boss, I think they need us downstairs."

The Guardian was already tired, and she was now starting to feel grumpy too. "Ronon, come with me and let's go knock some heads."

* * *

 **A/R:**

* Genie is 5 foot 9 inches tall (1.75 m), the same height as Rodney McKay and Samantha Carter.

** Lucius told AR-1 that he had traveled through the gate system to gather herbs from other worlds. He was astounded to see their flying jumper, and he eagerly wanted to have one. That meant that he was walking through a land gate (not a space gate). Later we saw Beckett enter Atlantis on foot when be brought Lucius along, confirming it is a land gate. Sheppard and McKay were collecting space gates, not land gates (this was made explicit in the episode). I suspect it was a plot mistake by the writers, so I corrected it by assuming that Lucius' world actually has two gates - both a land gate and a space gate - with McKay grousing about it.


	23. Chapter 23: Gourds

**Chapter 23: Gourds**

The Guardian was sitting at a workbench in Grodin's engineering lab showing him a universal joint for one of the stabilization pistons that helped to keep the city level and steady as it floated on the ocean. The leveling system was vital for the safety of the city's citizens because, given the height of its towers, a rocking city on rough seas would fling the citizens residing the upper floors around like dominoes.

Grodin hefted up the heavy joint with both hands and studied it closely. "There's no lubrication, just direct contact."

"Yes. That is because any applied lubricant would break down after a few years and need replacing."

He turned the joint over in his hands as he continued to study it, "This is amazing. This object was installed under the city, immersed in corrosive sea water for well over 10,000 years, and yet there is no sign of any corrosion whatsoever. There is no way our technology could construct something like this."

The Guardian smiled at him, "Our people built things to last."

Grodin carefully put the joint back down in its holding clamp on the workbench, "How do you do it?"

"It is not easy. We need to take into account effects such as oxidation, temperature fluctuations and the resulting expansion and contraction of metals, repeated flexing and torsional forces, the accumulation of dirt and grime, plus marine biology such as barnacles. We also need to consider longer term effects such as the slow galvanic corrosion that can occur due to the contact between two metals with different electrical potential. This is why we use only one type of naquadah-infused metal for as much of the city's construction as possible. The material does not corrode or oxidize, does not erode in the wind, does not weaken under repeated stress, resists dirt, mold, and mildew, and it is relatively lightweight."

"Fascinating."

She did not need to use her mind powers to anticipate his next request, "I assume that you would like to see the technical specifications on how to manufacture it?"

He leaned forward, "Uh, yes, ma'am, actually I would. If you don't mind, of course."

"Not at all. I would be happy to send the specifications to you. However, given the ultra-high temperatures and pressures required to forge it, I'm not sure that you will be able to manufacture it given your current level of technology."

"I would still be very interested."

She smiled again, "Certainly. I'll send it to your e-mail inbox."

 _Grodin died_

Her expression froze.

She blinked her eyes several times while looking at him blankly.

Grodin noticed her unfocused stare, "Ma'am, are you okay?"

She briefly touched her head. "I'm fine. Uh, I'll go send the specs to you right now." She left abruptly with Grodin watching her from behind as she went out the door.

* * *

Later that day the Guardian was in Doctor Weir's office giving the leader of the Atlantis Expedition an update on Project Borlaug. She was explaining how the magic seeds had now been distributed to 24 worlds, with another 72 expected to receive them within the next year. They were standing side by side as she was showing Weir a colored graph on the data tablet that she was holding.

 _Weir died_

The Guardian stopped talking and looked into space again.

Weir turned, "Sara, is something wrong?"

"Uh, no. I just picked up something odd." She touched her tiara.

"If it's not related to city security I won't ask what it is."

"Thank you, Doctor Weir. Right now I don't think it involves city security." She put down the tablet and frowned, "I need to go check something." She left the office as Weir looked on.

* * *

Doctor Beckett turned off the scanning device and moved it away from the examination table. He had finished his neurological scan of the Guardian. "I can find no change in your neurological functions or electroencephalographic [ECG] brain patterns compared to your previous scans."

The Guardian was still laying on the table. "And the other tests?"

"Your lab results all came back normal. Well, normal for you, that is. Basically as you're as healthy as ever."

 _Beckett died_

She froze again. Beckett noticed and bent over her, "Something the matter?"

She recalled what Lal had told her, " _Your awakening has had more impact than you realize. You've saved so many lives."_

"Uh, no." She stood up from the examining table. "Thank you, Doctor Beckett."

After she stood up she remembered something else, "Oh. I almost forgot. I had sent Harry Maybourne down here so that you can check on his migraine headaches. I think they are getting worse."

He looked surprised, "You are asking about Mr. Maybourne?"

"Yes. How is he doing?"

"Uh, he is doing as well as can be expected. I gave him some pain killers and told him to avoid bright lights."

 _Maybourne died_

She paused again, then she approached Beckett. She was too close for his comfort, "Carson, there is something that you are not telling me about his medical condition. What is it?"

"Uh, well, there's really nothing to say..."

She moved closer. He stepped back. "Doctor Beckett, you are clearly trying to hide something from me. Something important," Carson was almost as poor as Rodney when it came to hiding a guilty secret from the Guardian, "Tell me."

He protested, "I canna divulge it."

"And why not?"

"Doctor-patient confidentiality rules prohibit it."

"Do you mean to say that Harry specifically asked you not to tell me?"

He looked down in embarrassment, "Aye."

"And Doctor Weir? Was she told?"

"Well, Mr. Maybourne is not officially a member of the Expedition so I have no authority to violate patient confidentiality rules to notify her regarding him."

The Guardian's eyes flared, "If Harry Maybourne has a medical condition that affects his ability to do the job that I have assigned to him - a duty that is vital to the safety of my city and to the protection of this galaxy against the Wraith - then I need to know about it. And I need to know *now*."

Beckett took another step back. He worked up his courage and explained quickly, "I'm sorry, but like I said I canna do that. I won't. It would be a violation of patient confidentiality."

"Carson!"

He was defiant, "If you want you can call him on his radio yourself and bring him down here and ask him to tell you. If he agrees then I will be happy to explain to you anything you want to know about his medical condition."

She continued to glare at him fiercely, her azure eyes flashing. Most humans would have quickly capitulated, even fallen to their knees, in utter fear under that intense flaring gaze and the powerful threats that were implied behind it. However, the human medical doctor remained defiant and stood his ground.

She grudgingly admired Beckett's bravery under such pressure. Apparently he took his vows regarding the protection of his patients' medical privacy as seriously as she did her own vows regarding protecting their mental privacy.

"All right, I will."

* * *

Harry Maybourne was sitting upright on the examination table. He looked chagrined.

"Harry, you should have told me."

"I'm sorry, Sara."

"Why?"

He glanced at Carson, "It's inoperable, so there's no point. I'm all done anyway."

"But.."

Maybourne explained, "Look, I got your spy network all set up and it's self-sustaining now. The humans in the Pegasus Galaxy have a strong unified hatred of the Wraith, and the Wraith haven't done anything that a totalitarian dictatorship would normally do to counter it: distribute mass propaganda, run a secret police force, ruthlessly search and eliminate all political opposition however small, impose ubiquitous surveillance with cameras everywhere, none of it. They haven't lifted a finger to try to suppress any political opposition at all. It's because they treat humans with utter contempt - like livestock - so it doesn't even occur to them to worry about it. It's a big weakness and I ruthlessly exploited it. The spy network is solid now, and it will expand across the galaxy naturally by itself, so yeah, my work is done."

"Harry.."

"Hey, this is my last gig, and my greatest, and I'm proud of what I accomplished. I know it doesn't make up for the bad things I did in my past when I worked for my corrupt and dark masters, and that I had hurt of lot of people doing it, and I know that even helping you to save an entire galaxy won't make up for that bad past, but that's okay now. I understand things. I'm at peace now."

"Just wait." The Guardian turned and addressed the medical doctor, "What is the size of the brain tumor, it's exact location, and type?"

Carson thought a moment, "It's almost 3 centimeters in diameter and growing. Most of the cancerous mass is located in the right temporal lobe just along the mid-line, in front of the cerebellum. It's starting to press against the left lobe, and it will soon impinge on the optic nerve and when that happens he'll probably go blind. Later he will go into convulsions, then fall into unconsciousness, and finally it will press against his brain stem until he eventually stops breathing."

The Guardian asked in hushed tones, "The type? Please tell me it's not a glioblastoma."

"No, it's actually a myxopapillary ependymoma. It's benign, just completely inoperable."

She gave a huge sigh of relief. She turned and said in a fit of pique to Maybourne, "You idiot."

He looked at her with confusion.

"If it was a glioblastoma or something similar there is nothing I could do. Astrocytomas like that are invasive, with tendrils probing into the normal brain tissue so excising it would be impossible. It would be like pulling out a weed by lifting up the stem - most of the roots would be left behind and it would just grow back again."

She asked Carson, "Just to confirm, it is not invasive, correct?"

Carson was still trying to figure out what was going on. "Uh, aye. Ependymomas are generally not malignant. Sara, what are you getting at?"

She ignored him as she crossed her arms and nodded to herself, "So it's just an ovoid lump of issue, well defined in shape and texture. Granted it's in a dangerous location, but if it's concave and self-contained I think I might be able to teleport it out of him."

Harry and Carson both stared at her dumbfoundedly. Carson recovered first, "You, you can do that?"

She exploded at him, "Of course I can! Didn't either of you bother to read Sheppard's SGC reports? The one about the symbiont?" They both shook their heads.

She turned and yelled, "Harry, you numbskull, you should have told me!"

Harry was even more chagrined, "Well, I did tell Teyla and Ronon.."

The Guardian was shocked, "And not me? Harry, why? Wait a minute, how.. how could you three manage to hide something like this from me?"

"The reason was that I didn't want to burden you..."

"No, I literally mean 'how'? It should have been impossible! How did I miss this?"

Maybourne gave her a wry smile, "Sara, I can beat any polygraph test. I can probably beat a Wraith mind scan. It's one of the reasons you hired me. Now, I can't beat your scanning ability at grade 9, but you have not actually scanned my mind since my diagnosis. Teyla has great mind discipline, and you didn't suspect Ronon because, well, he's Ronon. But there's another more basic reason."

"Which is?"

"Sara, the reason you missed it was because this is a category three situation: It was a secret that you weren't even looking for, so it did not occur to you to even try to search for it."

She covered her face in embarrassment, "Fine. You win. You three fooled me." She realized something and pulled back her hand, "Ronon knows I can remove tumors. I told him that when we first met. Argh! That idiot lunkhead.."

She continued to pace and rant, gesticulating with her hands. Carson was amazed at how much she was acting just like an angry Rodney McKay at that moment, right down to the same exaggerated hand mannerisms. He had heard about their 'Bond' and thought ruefully about the possibility of two McKays now existing on the base.

Maybourne put out an arm to gently halt her pacing diatribe, "Sara, just stop. Ronon and Teyla didn't know it was a tumor. I only told them that I had an inoperable condition. Please calm down. I wanted you to miss it; it's all my fault."

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She finally succeeded.

"Harry, you really need to be more trusting."

He looked down, "I know. I'm sorry. Old habits die hard."

She gave him a benevolent smile, "You've changed. You're a good man now. I know it. And that is not something you can fake with me."

"Thanks."

After a moment he added, "So, uh, I guess you want to take this golf ball out of my head?"

She said with faux politeness, "May I? Please? If you don't mind? I know it might be an imposition."

He exaggeratedly rubbed his chin, "Hmm, let me think."

"Harry, you're my favorite spy. I'd like to keep you a little longer."

"Sara, I'm your only spy."

"Well, I suppose there's that."

The rotund man grinned impishly, "Admit it, you just want to keep me around so that you can admire my sexy body."

She acted surprised, "Oh dear, you caught me. You know I can barely keep my paws off you."

"See, Carson? How can I refuse such a lovely lady?"

The doctor interrupted their little repartee, "Ahem." They both smiled at him.

"Guardian, Mr. Maybourne, if you two don't mind, I'd like to return to the medical aspects of this proposed procedure. So what exactly is involved here?"

The Guardian decided it was time to get back down to business, "Basically, I can use my teleportation ability to excise the tumor. But it does have risks. The mass is large and it's in a delicate spot. The blood vessels feeding it will be cut, so I suspect that the biggest risk is probably a stroke."

Carson barked a laugh, "I should say so. In fact it might be the least of his troubles. Lass, are you really sure about this? You can't just create a gaping hole that big inside someone's skull, not without serious consequences. Look, the more I think about it, the more I think you canna do this. The resulting vacuum will create a mini-implosion and the surrounding brain tissue will collapse in on it. Do you know how much damage that would cause? It would be like a little bomb going off in his head."

"No, I can alter my teleportation method depending on the situation. One method I use is simple displacement, where the matter at point A is simply moved to point B. You are correct that this does create a gap at point A that generally just fills in with the surrounding ambient air. Meanwhile I displace the air at point B to make room for the teleported object. I can't displace solid matter like that, only a light substance like air, which is why I need line-of-sight so I don't teleport myself into a bulkhead accidentally. The other kind of teleportation I can do involves an exchange: Whatever matter is at point A is swapped to point B and vice versa."

"Well, it still won't work even with the second method. Look, you canna put a big air embolism in his head, especially with the severed blood vessels nearby. It would give him a nasty stroke, even kill him."

"You're right. Hmm."

"Say, I have an idea. Maybe I could provide you with a glass container filled with a sterile saline solution. Do you think you could swap-teleport the tumor into that?"

Her eyes lit up. She clapped her hands, "Yes! Carson, you're a genius! The saline should fill the gap nicely. No air embolism, and the equistatic fluid pressure will help minimize the bleeding. It's perfect!"

Harry shook his head and muttered, "I keep forgetting she's a magical girl..."

She lectured him, "Harry, I am not magical. You're sounding like Sheppard now."

She keep thinking, "Now listen to me, Harry. Carson is right, there are real risks here. I've never removed a tumor like this before."

"What are the odds?"

Beckett looked at the Guardian, who shook her head. He said, "Neither of us know. The procedure could work and you could be completely cured. Or it might kill you on the operating table. Or it might give you a stroke that could paralyze you, blind you, give you epilepsy, loss of memory, loss of cognitive ability. This is completely new territory for both of us."

Maybourne thought a moment. "Is Doctor Kurosawa back yet?"

The Guardian nodded, "Yes, Kurosawa is here." She had watched AR-12's return through the gate earlier that morning. Since Kolya's invasion attempt, the Guardian had made it a habit of her personally monitoring the gate room whenever there was any off-world activation scheduled. If there was a gate activation coming up she would arrive a few minutes early and lounge in one of the swivel chairs near Chuck's station, usually idly fiddling with a data tablet or reading up on the various databases from Earth to learn more about that enigmatic planet. While waiting she would peruse and roam the vast amount material available from Earth's Internet, and although she could not download her queries in real time, she would often queue up several requests that were sent in batches during their weekly data connection with Earth, then idly scan through them on her tablet while waiting for the next gate activation. When the gate activated she would jump up and assume a stealth combat position hiding out of view.

"Do you think you could you call her up here please?"

"Certainly."

* * *

Akira Kurosawa sat next to Maybourne as he laid on the operating table. Weir, Sheppard, McKay, Ronon, and Teyla were watching from the gallery above. Doctor Beckett, Doctor May, and two nurses were in attendance.

Beckett nodded to Kurosawa that it was time. She bowed her head as she held Maybourne's hand in her own.

"Lord of mercy and grace, we know that in You all healing is performed. Your hands created this amazing universe, and You are the giver of Life, the greatest physician, our healer and protector. You loved us so much that You came to Earth for us, to bridge the unbridgeable gap, in order to reconnect us back to You, all out of Your infinite love for us. Please be with Sara during this operation, guide her hand, and give her the wisdom and skill she needs to heal Harry as you continue to use her according to Your great plan. And please protect Harry, and let him know that he is loved, both by You and by his friends with a devotion that has its ultimate source in You. Please, Lord, heal him according to your will. Amen."

Beckett looked at the nurse, "Start the sedation." The nurse placed an anesthetic mask over Maybourne's face and his eyes soon fluttered closed. Kurosawa quietly stood up with her cane and went upstairs to join the others in the gallery.

A couple minutes later Beckett checked the vitals monitor. Maybourne was fully sedated, his breathing regular. Beckett looked over at the Guardian, "He's ready." The sealed glass beaker containing the sterile saline solution was on a small stand next to the operating table.

The Guardian had already removed her gloves, tiara, and cloak. She wore a face mask like the others. She was sitting on a stool directly behind Maybourne's uncovered head.

She leaned down and placed her bare hands on both sides of his skull and closed her eyes.

She made her own personal prayer, unspoken.

She felt the rippled texture of his brain with an invisible hand. Yes, the tumor was there: ovoid, just like she saw on the imager, well defined, with a distinctly hard and dimpled texture not unlike a golf ball. She imagined closing her hand gently around the ball.

There was a small flash of light and a red object appeared in the glass beaker.

* * *

The next day the Guardian did her morning ritual on the roof of the North Tower. She had started doing it shortly after her encounter with Ganos Lal and Daniel Jackson. She sat alone cross-legged on the black rubber roof and closed her eyes.

 _Lord, is this why I'm here? To save lives?_

 _I can save a few, but there are so many. How can I possibly save a whole galaxy? The Wraith are impossibly strong, and I'm only one person._

 _ _I need an ally to fight the Wraith._ I can't do this by myself. I'm too weak. _

_Lord, I need help._ _I know the Vigilante will do nothing._

 _Will You help me? I don't know where else to turn._

 _I still don't understand You, but I need your help._

 _I know You love the humans, but why?_

 _ _Please tell me, why do You love them? No, I don't understand.__

 _Help me to understand You. I want to connect with You, but I don't know how._

 _Doctor Kurosawa gave me a song. She calls it a 'hymn'._ _I don't know if it is the right thing to do, but I feel like I want to sing it for You now._

She looked at the sheet of paper with the musical notes and lyrics printed on it. From her previous singing practice she was now able to read and sing the Western 12-note diatonic scale.

She sang the hymn printed on the sheet, her voice clear and pure,

As morning dawns and day awakes, to You I bring my need  
O gracious God, my source of strength, in You I live and breathe  
Each hour is Yours, by wisdom planned; each deed empowered by sovereign hands  
Renew my spirit, help me stand, be glorified today

She wasn't sure if it worked or not. It did make her feel better.

She re-read the last stanza again. She touched the last words with her finger.

 _Why do You love them? I don't understand._

She now had a glimmer of a thought. An idea.

She now remembered it, the same idea that she had while laying in the guest bed at Samantha Carter's house, how she remembered marveling at the impossibility of a planet like Earth existing, how she had realized that only external intervention could sustain such a fantastic and impossibly prosperous world with a population of over 7 billion people and prevent it from immediately collapsing into total chaos, famine, and mass death.

But why did He intervene in the first place?

She knew that He liked rarity. After all, it was a basic fact of the design of the the whole universe, on every scale. Rare things are special things. Precious things. It explained the existence of a unique world like Earth, but it still didn't explain His intervention.

Kurosawa said that He did it out of love. All right, fine, but it still didn't explain why. Why love them? They certainly don't deserve it.

She had the a glimmer of an idea, but it eluded her back then.

Now she had it again.

She ran downstairs.

* * *

Kurosawa looked up from her Dell monitor in her minuscule office. "Oh, hello Sara. Would you like some peanuts?"

The Guardian sat and gladly accepted a bag and tore it open. "Thank you." She started munching.

Kurosawa turned off her monitor. "So how is Mr. Maybourne doing?"

The Guardian talked through a mouthful half-chewed peanuts, "Doctor Beckett is still holding him for observation, but it looks like he will make a full recovery."

"That's wonderful. So what brings you down here this morning?"

The Guardian looked down, then she looked up again at the Expedition's unofficial chaplain, "Doctor Kurosawa, I have a question, one I've been struggling with for a while now."

"Yes?"

"It is a question about your Lord, which I now believe to be the same being that we call The Designer."

"Go on."

"Please tell me, why does your Lord love you so much?"

Kurosawa clasped her hands on her tiny desk. "Ah, yes, I can understand why you would ask such a question. Let me think a moment." She eventually replied, "I suppose it is a mystery. All we know is that He does, and He made the greatest sacrifice possible to bring us back to Him."

"That hymn you gave me, _A Christian's Daily Prayer_? I tried singing it."

"I'm glad you tried it. Did you like it?"

"I did. It was very interesting. It has three verses, each ending with the same phrase. I sang a verse, this one." She handed Kurosawa the song sheet and pointed.

Kurosawa adjusted her reading glasses, "Ah, I see."

"Repetition indicates that the final phrase is important, yes?"

"It certainly does."

"Can you please explain it to me?"

Kurosawa pushed her chair away from her desk, "You, my dear, have stumbled upon something that is quite important, quite deep, and quite profound. Something most people miss, I think." The Guardian waited patiently while Kurosawa gathered her thoughts.

"First, let's take a step back, shall we? Remember, all of Creation is a demonstration exercise, done by God, for our benefit."

The Guardian nodded, "That much I understand. Otherwise it wouldn't have been so carefully designed to be visible to us across billions of light years. It's too wildly improbable to be that way by chance. It is obvious that The Designer wants us to see it, to understand it, and to appreciate what He has done, what 'He Hath Wrought'."

Kurosawa laughed, "Well, I know absolutely nothing about astronomy, my dear, but I think you are basically correct. The whole point of Creation is for His glory. Of Him: The universe, the heavens, life large and small, everything.."

".. and literally so, from the largest galactic super-cluster down to the smallest bacterium, and everything in-between. And it is no accident that it is all visible to us, that we can actually see it all. We can see the whole glory of that Creation.."

Kirosawa finished the thought, ".. which shines as a reflection of His own glory."

"For His glory. That's the key, isn't it?"

"You are right, it's the key to the whole thing. God is saying, 'Look upon my Creation and see what I have done, for I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.' This is basically His admonishment to Job when the latter was complaining loudly to everyone around him about his suffering when he did nothing wrong. In response God ticked off a long list of his greatest creations, then He asked Job if he was there when He created them. 'Were you there? Do you how they were done? Answer me!' He was telling Job to stop complaining and shut-up and get a clue, that he was failing to give God the praise and honor that was due to Him regardless of our life circumstances. This is what Job failed to understand as he wallowed in his self-pity."

"I think I see. However, with respect, you still haven't answered my my original question. Why is giving glory so important?"

"Ah yes, an excellent question. The answer is rather subtle. It took me a lifetime to figure it out."

The Guardian waited expectantly as Kurosawa gathered her thoughts. "Well, let's start with the definition. Strong's Concordance defines the greek verb, _doxadzo_ , as 'to magnify, honor, make illustrious, to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become manifest and acknowledged.'"

"But ma'am, isn't that already self evident? Why would we need to give Himself something, glory, that He already has? It makes no sense to me."

"Exactly. Why? At first it seemed really confusing to me too. If He has all the glory, then how can we glorify Him? How can we give Him something that He already has? On the surface it didn't seem to make any sense to me either."

"And the answer is rather deep. In John 17:22-23, Jesus spoke the following prayer in front of His disciples, '[Father] the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity.' I tried to think carefully about what He said. I didn't understand it at first. I just couldn't grasp what He was saying. Jesus appears to be giving God's glory to _us_! Huh? How can that be? Shouldn't glory always flow in the other direction? From us to Him? And doesn't He have all the glory already anyway?"

Kurosawa leaned forward, her eyes shining bright. "Then I finally understood it: Glory is the vehicle that conveys and reveals His true presence: His essence, His life, His identity. Glorification is a _process_ , a transfer mechanism."

"You mean it flows both ways."

"Yes. It is bidirectional. Glory flows from us to Him and from Him to us. But the latter happens only when our minds are unified with His own via the Holy Spirit. That is what Jesus meant when He said that we ourselves receive glory when we are 'perfected in unity', and 'we are one'. It is intimacy, with Him."

The Guardian thought hard, "And that's how prayer works, isn't it? It's a communication channel, a bidirectional one, between us and Him. It is the means to transmit that intimacy, called glorification."

Kurosawa leaned forward in her chair excitedly, "Yes, you got it!"

"Our connection with Him is the key - the joining of our mind with His."

"Yes, and that is why sin is so terrible, because it causes that unity to break as we separate ourselves from Him in our own sinfulness. It's because He cannot abide any sin in His presence, because otherwise it would break that unity, that flow of glory, that is embodied in that transfer mechanism called glorification. That is why sin must always be cast out, because it breaks our communion with Him. Our intimacy."

"His desire for that connection.."

".. explains everything: why Creation exists, why the Lamb had to die, why we have independent existence, why we have free will, everything.."

".. because otherwise He would merely be glorifying Himself."

"Yes, and that is why it's the key. It is the giving of glory as free individuals capable of our own moral choices, where we become 'perfected in unity' between us and the Son, just as the Son is with the Father. It is the means by which we can draw close to Him. That's why Jesus called the Father 'Abba' - 'Daddy' - which was regarded as blasphemy by the Pharisees. That's the kind of familiarity He really wants with us. He wants to be our Daddy."

The Guardian remained silent.

A minute passed. She finally said quietly, "You've given me a lot to think about. "

Kurosawa said indulgently, "It's all right, dear. I admit it is a lot to take in. Take your time."

Kurosawa waited as the Guardian continued to think.

A minute passed.

The Guardian understood, but no, she still wasn't ready.

Intellectually, she accepted the point that Kurosawa was trying to get across, but her heart still did not. Perhaps the _Excogitatoris_ loved the humans..

.. but He didn't love her. No, she didn't feel it.

Kurosawa finally said softly, "You were alone for a very long time. I understand."

The Guardian's face went dark, "Ma'am, with respect, no, you do not understand."

"I'm sorry?"

The Guardian quickly got out of her chair, "You have *no* idea how hard that was. No human can appreciate the hell that I went through. To wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and.."

Kurosawa also stood up.

".. and nothing! Nothing! Except for one thief no one came to me, no one contacted me, no one spoke to me, not even telepathically, not once, not once in 10,000 years. No one. They left me. They all left me..."

Kurosawa hobbled around the small desk and comforted her. "It's all right."

"I was abandoned.. they left me.."

"It's all right, dear."

The Guardian pulled away, "No, it's not all right! I was thrown away and left to rot at the bottom of the sea. How can a God of love do something like that to me?"

Kurosawa used her cotton sleeves to the wipe the tears off the Guardian's cheeks. "I can understand your feelings, even if I can never know what it was actually like for you. I'm so sorry."

The Guardian stepped back, "That is right, you do not."

Her voice grew bitter, "You are very fortunate, Doctor Kurosawa. However, I am not so lucky as you and the Tau'ri."

She turned and opened the door to leave.

"Sara.."

She turned back, "Doctor Kurosawa, I can respect Him, and I can honor Him for what he Created, but I can never love someone who would do that to me."

She left.

Kurosawa slowly hobbled back and collapsed in her chair. She sighed to herself, realizing the situation the Guardian was in. She was blocked by her own life experience, a phenomenon that was actually rather common. Kurosawa knew that no amount of talking, writing, or rational argument will ever persuade anyone enough to change their worldview in a situation like that. It never, ever works. It is only during an emotional and personal experience that it happens privately, in one's own heart. It would happen then, and only then, or not at all.

The Guardian was simply not ready.

* * *

The Guardian was in bed with McKay. She was again holding from behind, using him like a body pillow.

After a minute he said quietly, "Kit, you've been pretty moody again lately. What's up?"

She remained silent.

He knew her well enough to wait. He did.

Time passed.

Finally she asked, { Rodney, do you love me? }

He sat up. "Huh? What kind of idiotic question is that? Of course I love you. How can you ask that?"

{ But why do you love me? }

"That's even more stupid than your first question. Kit, I love everything about you: Who you are, what you are, how smart you are, the whole package. You know that."

She remained silent.

"Kit, you're perfect."

{ No I'm not. }

"What's with you lately? Look, just tell me what's wrong. We don't hide anything from each other."

She thought a moment, { You're wrong, we do. }

"No we don't. We're Bonded."

{ I hid something from you. I lied to you. }

"You can't do that, but tell me anyway. It's okay."

She looked down in shame. { What happened on P49-M87. I told you that I never had any bad thoughts about John.. }

"Kit?"

{ I lied. I did have bad thoughts about him. }

"I know you did. It's okay."

She sucked in her breath, { Meredith, you.. you knew? }

"Of course I did. Look, no girl could live with a lady-killer like that for eight years and not feel at least a little bit tempted. C'mon he's Captain Kirk. Nothing happened, right?"

{ No, nothing happened. But I admit I did feel an attraction sometimes. I'm so sorry. }

He pulled her back down on the bed and wrapped himself around her. "So that's why you're so moody lately. I get it. You're only human. I forgive you."

 _I'm only human? He keeps telling me that. "You're just as human as I am."_

He heard her accidental thought-leak. "Exactly! Weir told me about your encounter with your old teacher in the VR room, that she had told you that those guys upstairs who were watching you all the time had thought that you were becoming more human than Lantean. You remember that?"

{ Yes.. }

"See? You're just as human as me. So don't worry about it. What happened is over and done with. Sheppard kept his hands off you and that's all that matters."

{ Meredith, I'm still sorry. }

"I love you."

{ I love you so much I can't express it properly, even in my thoughts. }

He grinned, "I think that's the nicest thing a girl has ever said to me." He kissed her.

* * *

The Guardian sat down in a chair in the Command Center. "Good morning, Chuck."

"Morning, ma'am."

She put her feet up on the console and pulled out her data tablet, "How's your mom?"

"She's feeling much better, thank you for asking."

"And Judy?"

"She graduates next week."

"That's wonderful."

"I wish I could be there."

"Well, when the CMM Bridge goes online we'll have regular trips to Earth daily. I'm sure you'll get your chance."

"I'm looking forward to it."

Elizabeth Weir walked up, coffee thermos in hand. "Good morning Chuck, Sara."

"Mornin'" "Good morning."

"Schedule?"

Chuck checked his console. "AR-2 should be dialing in any minute."

The Guardian looked up from her data tablet, "Doctor Weir, I stopped by the infirmary on my way up here to look for Doctor Beckett but I didn't see him. Where is he?"

"He left early to go back to P66-K47."

"That's the planet with the village elder who had six wives, correct?"

"Yes. McKay had reported that the man, a Mr. Lucius Lavin, claims to be a renowned apothecary. The villagers all hailed his remarkable ability to allegedly cure any kind of ailment with his herbs and medicines, so Beckett decided to check it out. He took a backpack with a portable bioanalyzer with him."

"Oh, I see." She went back to reading her tablet.

Sheppard walked up, "Hi guys." He sneezed.

Weir asked, "Need a handkerchief?"

"No I got my own. It's this damn cold." He pulled it out and blew into it.

The gate activated. Chuck checked the security display, "We are receiving Major Lorne's IDC."

Weir ordered, "Lower the shield."

A puddle jumper came through the gate. It floated up to the central hangar. The Guardian stood up, "Well, let's go see what they found."

* * *

Sheppard, Weir, and the Guardian emerged from the top stairwell as Lorne walked out the back hatch of the jumper. Weir greeted the team, "Welcome back everyone, Major Lorne. Did you and your men find anything?"

"Nothing. We checked every gate address you gave us. At each one we found a hive ship's landing spot right where our previous imaging had spotted it. We did a scan in each system but found no ships."

Sheppard concluded, "They just up and left. All of them."

Weir wondered, "Hmm."

"Elizabeth, all the worlds where we spotted Wraith activity from orbit in the past are now deserted. It's weird."

The Guardian added, "Maybourne's spy network has reported no culling activity."

"I don't like it."

Weir asked, "Sara, what do you think it means?"

"I have no idea, but I agree with Colonel Sheppard's intuition. My heart tells me it is not good for us."

"It isn't?"

"No. I think they are still out there, as strong as ever. It feels to me like the lull before the storm."

Sheppard nodded, "I hate to say it, but I think she's right."

"Fine. John, if any Wraith activity is spotted in any system I want to know right away. Sara, can you please let me know me if your intelligence network finds anything?"

"Of course, Doctor Weir. I will inform both you and Colonel Sheppard right away."

"Thank you."

* * *

McKay and Zelenka were with the Guardian in the main lab. They were all bent over the central imaging table. McKay was manipulating a software diagram, moving some interconnected boxes containing text and symbols around with his finger. "Let's see here.. the new extra security protocols include an encrypted MAC nonce header with a new secure hash algorithm using a certificate signed by the City's private root key. It should prevent the Wraith or any other unauthorized third party from dialing through. It's nice. I like it. Good job, Sara."

"No, I can't claim credit for this. Mr. Maybourne designed it and did all the coding. All I did was inspect his source code and run some tests to verify that the algorithms appear to be as secure as he claims, then I uploaded it to the main software repository. That's why the code has my ID on it and not his."

"Really? I didn't know that Maybourne was a computer programmer."

"He is an excellent 'black hat' hacker, if I understand the idiom."

"He is?"

"Oh yes. His mind thinks in very devious ways."

"He's a black hat? But this software package is defensive."

Zelenka explained, "Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, Rodney. Black hats are often hired by computer security companies for great sums of money to act as white hats for them. They design the best firewalls and defensive systems."

McKay touched a particular text box and opened it, "I love this part. This is really devious. I thought you wrote this, Sara, but it's really him, huh. Wow, he's a total bastard."

The Guardian smiled, "Yes, it is rather nasty. If the Wraith try to hack into the CMM Bridge it will switch the control access to a honeypot, allowing them to think they have succeeded. It will then alert us and present to them a false status display."

"Yeah, and when they try to dial in to Midway Station and send a hoard of Wraith drones though the hacked gate they get dumped into outer space. Ouch. Meanwhile the status display at the hacked gate location shows them successfully invading Midway so they keep sending more troops in. This is pure evil. I love it. We gotta add this."

"I'm glad you agree."

McKay kept fiddling with the UML diagram, opening various boxes. "I think the software for the CMM is ready. We just need to catalog those space gates now so the _Daedalus_ can harvest them."

The Guardian pushed her elbows up from the imaging table. "Rodney, I want to submit an official request regarding the Bridge."

McKay stood up straight as well, "Yeah?"

"I told you that I dislike the name, the Carter-McKay-McKay Bridge."

"So you said. But we're the ones who designed it. We should get the credit."

"Carter did most of the preliminary design. You and I just followed through with the detail. Mr. Maybourne's contribution is far more significant than mine. He fixed the security blunder that we made in the MAC design where we chose a cipher that was vulnerable to a length extension attack*."

"I'm just glad you spotted it. Then you, I mean Maybourne, sorry, invented a new MAC cipher** that doesn't depend on a Merkle–Damgård style hash function*** to counter it."

"Yes, Harry did some rather sophisticated theoretical cryptoanalytical work to develop his new algorithm and the rest of the security module. I think he should get the credit, not me."

"Aw.."

"Rodney, all I did was check everyone's work and look for security vulnerabilities. Harry has made a vital contribution to this project. I want to give him credit."

"But.."

"Besides, my very existence is a highly classified secret. If you put my name on the research paper they will need to create a biography for 'S. McKay': my CV, my scholarly degrees, my previous publications. What are they going to write?"

Zelekna said, "Having a space alien as one of the authors would be a little awkward, Rodney."

"Okay, okay. Fine. It's the Carter-McKay-Maybourne Bridge. Sheesh."

"Thank you, my love."

* * *

The Guardian was back sitting at a control console next to Chuck waiting for AR-5 to return.

They were having a discussion about favorite colors.

Chuck said, "Banana yellow."

"Yes that is a nice color."

"What's yours?"

"Ultraviolet. I love its deep intensity."

"You can see ultraviolet?"

"Yes. I don't like infrared, the dull glow." Sheppard and McKay walked up behind them.

"Must be nice to see colors we can't."

"It is. Many flowers have colors in the ultraviolet that only bees and other insects can see. It makes them very beautiful."

McKay explained to Sheppard, "Yeah, she can see impossible colors that we can only imagine."

"That sounds pretty cool."

Weir walked up. Sheppard suddenly sneezed.

Weir said, "Bless you, John."

"Dammit," He pulled out his handkerchief and blew into it.

"Say, Genie, do you Lanteans have any magic hocus pocus that can cure a common cold?"

"Uh, well..."

The gate activated.

Chuck checked his security display. "It's not AR-5."

The Guardian stood up quickly.

Weir asked, "Who is it?"

"I'm receiving Doctor Beckett's IDC."

"Lower the shield."

The Guardian climbed down the main staircase with Weir, McKay, and Sheppard following. The Guardian assumed her standard guard position on the far left side of the gate, standing on a small pylon just outside the peripheral vision of anyone exiting from the gate.

The gate whooshed open and Beckett walked in wearing his backpack. The Guardian jumped off the pylon and approached him.

The others also approached. Weir said, "Welcome back, Carson."

At that moment another man walked in.

The Guardian whirled and crouched, pulling her hood up. She growled, "Who is that?"

A somewhat rotund man in his 40s with black hair and a broad face walked in placidly, looking around the large gate room in disbelief. "Carson, this is amazing. I admit I didn't believe your description, but wow, I mean wow, you weren't kidding. This is amazing. Absolutely amazing."

The Guardian quickly and stealthily approached the strange and frumpy looking man from behind.

As she silently approached she saw that his hands were empty. A quick mental check revealed no hostile intent. She could tell that he was obviously no physical threat to her or anyone else.

She yanked down her hood and unwrapped her robe, "Who are you?"

Beckett turned and held out a welcoming hand, "Lucius, I'd like you to meet the Guardian of Atlantis, the last living Ancient in the galaxy."

He turned and looked at her in awe. He appraised her shapely figure. "Oh my. You're right, she's a 10. I didn't believe you and thought well, maybe she might be a 7 or even an 8, but she's definitely a 10."

"Shut up. Answer my question."

"Wow, you got fire too. I like that." He quickly did an appraisal, "Great eyes, great face. And you're svelte, like a dancer. Yeah, I hit the jackpot."

She sensed only simple lust. She was getting annoyed. "Did you hear me? I said.."

Weir, McKay and Sheppard had already walked up. Weir asked, "Carson, what is going on here?"

Carson continued his introductions, "Doctor Weir, everyone, this is Mr. Lucius Lavin, the renowned apothecary, healer, hero, and story teller of the Pegasus galaxy. He is an incredibly kind and wise man."

"Oh, is he now?"

Sheppard looked at the Guardian and asked, "The gate address..?"

The Guardian understood. She quickly moved to confront Beckett, "Where was this man standing when you dialed the DHD?"

"Uh, I think he was standing behind me, why?"

Sheppard sighed, "Now we have to assume he knows our gate address. That's just great."

Weir was becoming more than a little annoyed, "Carson, how could you bring this man here? You know the security protocols. In fact you helped write them."

"But this is Lucius Lavin. There is so much that he can offer us."

Weir crossed her arms, "Like what, for example?"

"He possesses many valuable herbs and spices. And gourds."

"Gourds?"

Sheppard looked at the Guardian, "Did he just say gourds?"

"He said gourds."

"Gourds."

"Gourds."

"That's it. Something happened to him." The Guardian approached Beckett closely. She stared into his eyes from a few inches away.

"Uh, hello, lass..?"

"Yeah, he's definitely buzzed. His pupils are dilated, too." She briefly glanced at Weir for permission. Weir simply nodded.

"Carson, I'd like to give you a mind scan. Is that all right with you? I promise it won't hurt."

He shrugged, "Okay, it's fine with me. I don't care."

The Guardian removed her tiara and peered closely at Carson. "Just don't move."

Lucius became alarmed, "A.. a mind scan? You can do that?"

Her eyes remained fixed on Carson, "Yes, I can. I'm an Ancient, remember?"

"Oh my.. oh my.. That's scary. Reading someone's mind is scary. I don't like that. I don't like that at all. Crawling into my head, climbing inside my brain, oh that's terrible. That sounds horrible."

"Shut up. I'm scanning him, not you."

"Wait, you can't do that without consent otherwise it's mental rape, right? That's illegal, such a gross violation.."

Her eyes remained fixed on Carson. "The man just me gave his permission, you idiot. Be quiet!"

A minute passed as the Guardian continued to stare intensely at Carson. He simply smiled back at her.

She finally stopped the scan and put her tiara back on.

"Well, Genie, what's the verdict?"

"Carson doesn't know what happened to him. But John, he's as high as a kite. All of his happy chemicals are elevated: serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin, all of them. Especially the oxytocin level. It's off the chart."

"Oxytocin? What's that?"

Carson cheerfully explained it for Sheppard, "Oh, that's the neurotransmitter for social interaction. It strengthens the maternal attachment between a mother and her baby, or the sexual attraction between two lovers. They call it the 'cuddle hormone'. It basically promotes pair bonding. It's very powerful."

"Well, your oxytocin level is sky high right now."

"Is it now? I feel fine. Wonderful in fact."

The Guardian was bemused, "I'm sure you do."

Weir asked, "Sara, what could do that?"

"I have no idea. I don't know any drug that could elevate all of his levels simultaneously like that. An opioid would bind to the receptors directly, so does the Wraith enzyme, so those are ruled out. An amphetamine would increase only his dopamine level, an SSRI or MAOI would increase only his serotonin level, and I don't know of any drug that could kick his oxytocin level that high. Whatever this is, the pharmacology is incredibly powerful."

McKay finally spoke, "The guy drugged Carson. It's obvious. He spiked his food or something."

Lucius was taken aback, "No I didn't. Honest!"

Weir asked, "Carson, did you eat anything during your visit?"

"Oh yes, I had a wonderful lunch with Lucius. He told me many interesting stories, really fascinating."

Lucius protested, "I didn't spike his food. I swear!"

Weir looked at the Guardian.

"He's telling the truth."

Lucius staggered back, "Wait, are you reading my mind? You can't do that!"

"Relax, Mr. Lavin. I'm just monitoring your immediate current outward emotional state, basically checking for lies. I'm not actually reading your mind. It's allowed."

He was defiant, "Well, I'm telling the truth."

"Did you put anything in his drink?"

"No."

"Did you inject him with anything?"

"Of course not!"

The Guardian sighed and turned to Weir and Sheppard, "He's not lying."

She thought a moment, "I wonder if Carson picked up something accidentally. Maybe a mold or a spore? It could even something active like bacteria, a virus, or a fungus. Maybe from the water supply or in the air."

Weir was worried, "Do you think it could be contagious?"

"I don't know. Unlikely I think, but I can't rule it out."

Carson spoke up, "You really need to see his herbs and spices. They really are remarkable. I sampled a couple and they are absolutely amazing."

The Guardian turned, "Wait, you tried them?"

"Well, yes. Lucius showed me some and I tasted a few."

Lucius spoke up again, "See? I didn't spike his food. He just tasted some of my wares, that's all. There's no harm in that, is there?"

Sheppard rolled his eyes, "Great. He probably accidentally ate a weird mushroom or something. We should take him to the infirmary and let him sleep it off."

Weir said, "No, I want him in the isolation ward. If there's even a small chance this might be infectious.."

McKay said, "A lot of the villagers were acting weird too. I agree with Elizabeth. Keep him in isolation."

Sheppard made a motion and two Marines with P90s walked up. "Take him to the isolation ward in the infirmary. Try to be gentle, and try not to touch him."

Carson jumped back, "You're taking me away from Lucius? No, you can't do that!"

Lucius patted Carson on the arm, "It's all right. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here."

"You will?"

Sheppard drawled, "Yeppers. He's not going anywhere until Genie figures out if he knows our gate address or not. If he does, he might become a permanent guest here."

"Really? Hmm, I think I wouldn't mind living in a place like this."

Sheppard motioned his arm at the Marines again, "Get him out of here." The two Marines escorted Carson happily away.

Sheppard turned to Lucius, "Okay, we're gonna search you, then we're gonna figure out what to do with you next."

"You-you'll search me?"

"Yep. Just wait a moment." Sheppard turned back to confer quietly with Weir and Guardian. McKay stood nearby and listened.

Sheppard whispered, "Well, do we throw him in the brig?"

Weir considered it; she decided, "No, he hasn't done anything wrong. Carson was the one who brought him here. Find him a guest room." She looked at the Guardian, "Sara, we have to learn if he knows our gate address or not. Otherwise we can't risk letting him go home again."

"Yes, I agree."

McKay yelled, "Hey, what are you doing!?"

The trio looked up from their huddled conversation just in time to see Lucius downing a small vial of clear liquid that he had hidden in his coat pocket. The Guardian jumped over in one leap and tried to grab it, but it was too late. When she tried to grab the now-empty glass vial it slipped out of Lucius' hand and shattered on the hard floor of the gate room.

The Guardian growled, "What was that?"

Lucius yelped, "You were going to take it! That's my medicine, I need it!"

The Guardian took two steps back and pointed at him. "That, sir, is a baldfaced lie. I finally caught you."

"I need it! I do!"

Sheppard tapped his radio, "Cadman, this is Sheppard. I need you to please assemble your forensic team and come to the gate room. We have some chemical trace that we need to recover for analysis."

McKay kneeled down and looked at the shattered vial, "I dunno, it looks like he drank it all. There's not much left, maybe a couple drops. It might not be enough for the mass spectrometer to analyze."

"Well, we'll recover what we can."

The Guardian knelt and sniffed the floor. "Ew.. it stinks."

McKay sniffed. "I don't smell anything." He glanced up at Sheppard.

"Hey, don't look at me. My nose is so stuffed with this damn cold that I can't even smell a fart in an elevator."

The Guardian stood up, "Once you recover what's left, I might be able to scrounge up some Lantean equipment in one of the unopened labs that might do a better trace analysis for you."

"Thanks, Genie, that would be great."

The Guardian turned back to Lucius, "Okay, so what are you really up to, Mr. Lavin?"

"Who me? Nothing."

"Another lie. What are you trying to hide? Wait, you really did do something to Carson.."

"No I didn't!"

"A third lie. You're busted."

"I haven't hurt anybody! Everybody likes me!"

"Yes, you believe that. Hmm." The Guardian decided, "Okay, we're going to find you a nice comfortable suite, get you some minders. Maybe Teyla and Ronon can babysit you for a bit.."

"Wow, that's great."

".. but first you and I are going to have a nice pleasant little chat. In private."

"What? Just you and me? Really?"

{ Genie, he's never going to consent to a mind scan. If he really fights it, it might even kill him. }

{ I know that. But John, he's scheming something. I can tell. }

{ Okay, so maybe he got Carson deliberately buzzed on his weird herbs or his funny shrooms or something, but that's not a capital offense. }

Lucius made a dramatic motion with his arms wide, "All right, all right. Fine. I'll confess. I'll submit to your mind scan."

"You will?"

"Look, I'm a nice guy. Very gracious. You're worried about Carson. I understand that. It's natural. You're worried about him. Fine. Okay, I'll tell you what happened.."

"Good."

".. but only on one condition."

"Which is?"

"Uh, wait, let me ask first, are you married?"

McKay was incredulous, "What the hell? Look, mister, just stop it. She's my wife, dammit."

"Huh? She is?"

"Yes! So stop hitting on her! Look, buster, it's literally 'til death do us part' for Lanteans - no divorce - the Bond only ends when one of us dies, that's it. So stop it with your dumb marriage fantasies. Teyla is still pissed about it. I'm sorry, fat boy, but you lose."

"I see. Hmm. That's going to be a problem."

The Guardian was now more than a little irritated, but she tried to remain civil, "Mr. Lavin, a marriage offer isn't an acceptable condition.."

"Oh it's not that. Look, all I want to do is tell you some of my stories, that's it. Just so we can get to know each other a little better."

"You want to tell me stories?"

"Yeah, my favorite stories, my best ones. They're really good. You'll love them."

The Guardian crossed her arms. "That's all? You'll tell me stories?"

"Yes. That's it. Nothing else. After that I'll cooperate and tell you anything you want to know. I promise. Look, am I lying right now?"

"No.."

{ Genie, after he tries to bore you to death, what are you going to do if he reneges on his promise and he resists you anyway? You don't want to kill him. }

{ I'll bluff him. I'll claim I'm still doing the mind scan, then I'll just pepper him with a bunch of mentally sent yes/no questions. It really startles people when they hear me in their head. It will fool him into thinking I'm scanning him. }

{ But instead you'll just play a game of Twenty Questions with him, Genie style. }

{ Exactly. Eventually I should be able to zero in on whatever his little scheme is. }

{ Okay, that sounds good. Do it. }

Sheppard whispered to Weir, "Look, while Genie is listening for the next couple hours to The Lucius' Greatest Hits Collection, I want to go back to his village and search for more of his 'medicine' from his apothecary shop. I'll get some vials and bring them back for McKay to analyze with Doctor May."

Weir whispered back, "All right. Wait until Lucius leaves."

The Guardian grabbed Lucius by the arm. "Okay, let's you and I go to the conference room where we can have our nice little private chat."

Lucius acted like he was escorting a belle to the ball. "Yes, my dear. Let's go."

The Guardian rolled her eyes as she was 'escorted' to the conference room. She could sense Lucius' elation.

What she could not see was Lucius' face as they walked side-by-side up the main staircase.

He wore a hidden smile..

"Please lead on, my lovely dear."

.. because he knew that one of them was in for a rude surprise.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* See Length extension attack on Wikipedia.

** Maybourne basically invented his own secure cryptographic hash function, something similar to SHA-3 (which did not exist until 2015), which is resistant to such attacks.

*** See Merkle–Damgård construction on Wikipedia.


	24. Chapter 24: Imprinting

**Chapter 24: Imprinting  
**

Sheppard walked up to the gate. He had three vials of Lucius' medicine in his pockets.

"You will bring him back? You promise?" Willa was still holding his arm tightly.

"Yes, yes, I will." He patted the buxom woman's arm reassuringly.

The first wife continued to beg, "Please, you must."

"I promise. Thank you for helping me get his medicine." It took Sheppard longer than expected for him to find it, having had to first spend time to placate the anxious villagers. He noted their symptoms of drug withdrawal: anxiety, cold sweats, headaches, depression. Then he had spent considerable time ransacking through Lucius' cluttered shop. With Willa's help he eventually found the vials hidden behind a secret wall panel.

"Make sure he takes his medicine. It is very important to him."

"I'm sure. Look, can you please stand over there? I need to dial the gate."

She released his arm and stood out of view of the DHD. Sheppard dialed it and the gate whooshed open.

He raised his wrist IDC and tapped in his code. As he waited for the confirmation signal he saw Lucius' first wife look on with desperate, pleading eyes; he returned a small polite smile and waved back at her.

Several seconds passed. He was increasingly uncomfortable under Willa's desperate gaze, her hands wringing in anxious need. The IDC still had not returned the signal. He made the small awkward wave again.

After a minute he raised his wrist IDC and spoke into it, "Atlantis, this is Sheppard. Lower the shield."

Nothing.

"Atlantis, this is Colonel Sheppard. Lower the shield. Please respond."

Still nothing.

Willa asked anxiously, "Why do you not go through the gate?"

Sheppard inspected his IDC. He had been using it for a long time, and it was dinged and worn from countless missions. He noticed that there was a small crack in the glass of its front carapace that he hadn't noticed before.

"Uh, there's a glitch. My IDC might be malfunctioning."

"IDC?"

Without an IDC message, Atlantis would never risk lowering their shield. The protocol was strict and inviolate.

"It's just a hiccup. If I don't report back within 24 hours they will send a team to investigate. Don't worry, it's no big deal."

The disappointment on Willa's face was palpable, "You mean we have to wait?"

"Looks like it. I'm really sorry."

Willa ran to him and grabbed his arm again. Sheppard felt her ample bosom pressing in to his side, "How long?"

"Probably until tomorrow, that's protocol," He gently shifted her arm, "Uh, look, I was wondering if maybe you could find a place to put me up for the night? An inn maybe?"

She tightened her grip again, "I will bring you to our home. You may sleep in Lucius' bed."

Sheppard was nervous, "Uh, you ladies all have..?"

"Yes, we each have our own rooms."

Sheppard was relieved, "Oh good. That's good. That's really good."

She pulled him along, "Come with me. Delinda, Sylvia and I will prepare you a wonderful meal. We will all eat together. Afterwards we will sit by the fire and I will regale you with many wonderful tales of the great and heroic deeds of our dear husband."

"That's great, I'm really looking forward to it," he smiled weakly.

* * *

The next day Sheppard was back at the DHD again. All six wives were waiting nearby with anxious looks on their faces.

He tried sending his code. This time he got the confirmation signal. Feeling relieved, he waved goodbye to them. They all waved back at him as he walked into the gate and disappeared.

He crossed the threshold into the gate room and noticed immediately that there were no Marine guards with P90s pointed at the gate waiting to receive him. It was a major protocol violation. He frowned as he climbed up the central staircase to the Command Center. There he saw Chuck lounging by himself at his station with his feet propped up.

He snapped at Chuck, "Where is everybody?"

"Hey, Sheppard."

"Why didn't you lower the shield yesterday?"

"We had a little communications problem. Sorry about that."

"I should say so. I had to wait a day!"

Chuck pushed a button and spoke into the console mic, "He's back."

"Look, I asked you question. Where is everyone?"

"In the mess hall mostly."

 _"Sheppard, this is McKay. Sara and I made a big breakthrough. Come down to the infirmary as soon as you can."_

Sheppard debated on where to go next, to the mess hall or to the infirmary. He chose the infirmary. He marched downstairs, determined to get some answers. His P90 weapon was still attached to his vest.

He entered the infirmary. There he saw Beckett, McKay, and the Guardian all eagerly huddled around a workbench. He didn't see anyone else. He started to walk over to see what they doing.

McKay ran up to him, "Sheppard, come check this out. Sara brought it in from one of the sealed labs that we haven't explored yet. This thing is absolutely incredible."

McKay escorted him to the workbench. On it Sheppard saw a strange machine with Lantean markings. The machine's top featured a row of eight inverted translucent cylinders - each about the size of toothpaste tube. Each contained a liquid with a different color. A stack of small empty plastic vials was mounted on one end of the machine, with the bottom of the tube connected to an entrance port on the side. On the opposite end of the machine he saw a small door open up, and a sealed vial dropped out of it into a receiving receptacle. He could see about a dozen other vials already in it.

Sheppard peered into the receptacle, "Uh, yeah, looks cool. What's it doing?"

"This machine synthesizes protein sequences: enzymes, neuropeptides, anything. All you need to do is give it a nucleotide sequence map and a supply of the right protein precursors as input, and voila. It can crank out anything you want. It's amazing!"

"What's it making now?"

Beckett smiled, "We are producing more of Lucius' medicine for him. He ran out and needed more."

Sheppard's head snapped up. He said a flat, "What."

"Yes, isn't it wonderful? It will make him so happy."

Sheppard stared.

The Guardian's back was to him. He saw that she was busy working a control panel on the side of the machine.

{ Genie, what the hell? }

{ John, hi. }

{ What are you doing? }

{ This will stop the hybrid. }

{ Huh? }

{ Okay, I admit that I'm not 100% certain it will, what with its mixed Lantean-Wraith genetics. But there's a good chance it will work. We can use this drug compound to put it under our control. }

Sheppard grabbed her shoulder from behind, yanking her around to face him. She didn't resist.

He checked her pupils. He saw exactly what he feared.

They were dilated.

{ Genie.. }

{ John, we need this weapon. I have to stop the hybrid. I have to. }

He realized what was happening.

The Guardian was in denial again.

It was her worst personal trait. He saw that she had deluded herself into believing that, rather than enabling Lucius, she was making a new bioweapon that she thought she needed order to defeat the hybrid.

{ Genie, listen to me carefully. You've been drugged. }

{ I know. }

{ He got to you. You are under the influence of a really powerful narcotic. }

{ Yeah, it's really effective. I think it's powerful enough even for the hybrid. }

{ What? Genie, listen to yourself. You're rationalizing. }

{ I'm not. }

{ Yes you are! Look, you have this bad habit - a tendency to deny your feelings, your wants, even your own memories. You admitted it to me during our sabbatical together, remember? It's happening again. }

{ John.. }

{ C'mon, fight it. }

{ I can't. }

{ Yes you can. Look, you're strong. You got grade 9 mental powers and all that, right? And you're specifically trained to resist mind control, too, right? To resist the Wraith? }

{ Yes. }

{ So fight it! You've beaten Wraith queens.. }

{ I told you, I can't. }

{ Do it! }

{ I CAN'T. }

He looked at her. Her face was tragic.

He could see that she wasn't in denial about it. She knew exactly what was happening to her.

{ Genie, talk to me. }

Sheppard saw that Beckett and McKay were still engrossed watching the machine operate. Nobody was paying attention to them.

{ I know I've been drugged. I'm fully aware of what's happening. I'm not fooling myself. }

{ Genie? }

{ John, I'm only pretending to be in his thrall like everyone else. }

{ You're only acting? }

{ No, it's real. I do feel the compulsion; it's incredibly strong... }

{ But you can resist it, right? }

{ Yes, I can resist it. The same way that I can resist my urge to automatically slash a Wraith whenever I see or smell one. }

{ So why are you not fighting it? }

{ It's because I have a weakness. A secret vulnerability. Lucius has trapped me. He doesn't know it. }

{ Tell me. }

She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the hallway outside the infirmary. McKay and Beckett ignored them as they continued to fascinatedly watch the machine do its magic.

She looked around to make sure the hallway was empty, { John, nobody knows this. Well, Todd knows, but I don't think he's told anyone else. }

"First tell me, is there anybody left? Anyone who hasn't been Stepford Wived yet?"

{ No, I think Lucius got everyone. He even hooked Maybourne, Teyla, and Ronon. Rodney did resist a bit when he saw Lucius sweet-talking me. That was hard. I had to play along with him watching. }

{ So why are you letting Lucius push you around? What does he have on you? }

{ He doesn't know. John, you have to promise never to tell this to anyone. Ever. I mean it. If anyone else finds out.. }

{ I promise. Tell me. }

She wrung her hands and looked down, { You know that I'm an artificially designed and genetically engineered being, or at least a partial copy of one. I'm somewhat defective.. }

"Yeah, I knew that. Well, kind of. Beckett told me some of your DNA had gaps. So?"

{ A very long time ago, going almost back to the Age of Myth, there were a group of living weapons that my people created - biological super-soldiers called the _Valkyrja_. They were deadly in battle, unstoppable. Because they were so dangerous they added several failsafes in case we went rogue or were captured. I didn't know those failsafes existed until Kolya used one on me. You see, if we are ever captured there is a secret method that we can use to commit suicide to prevent the enemy from extracting any information from us. }

{ Secretly commit suicide? You mean like that hidden cyanide-filled tooth that Hermann Goering used? }

{ Sort of, but it's automatic. Todd explained it me. I checked myself and he's right. You see... }

"There he is!"

Three Marines were pointing their P90s at Sheppard, with Lucius standing behind them.

"Sheppard, you get away from her!"

Sheppard slowly raised his arms up over his head and moved aside. One of the Marines quickly approached and disarmed him.

Meanwhile, Lucius ran up to the Guardian. "Oh, I'm so sorry my dear. I should have got here sooner. Was he talking to you? Telling you lies? Filling your pretty head with nonsense?"

"Lucius, he told me some strange things."

"Well, you shouldn't listen to him because.."

Sheppard sneezed again.

".. he's not well. He's sick. That cold. He's Ill. Something's wrong with him."

"Those things he said, are they true?"

"Of course not. He's not right in the head. His head, it's full of weird stuff, paranoid conspiracy theories. Crazy stuff. Are you okay, my lovely dear?"

The Guardian caressed his cheek, "Oh Lucius, darling, I'm just fine. I know he's just being silly."

"Yeah, he is. He's being silly. He was just joking. He's just being goofy."

"Don't worry, my beloved. I didn't believe a word of it."

"Good. Say, did you make more of my medicine?"

"Yes, darling. The machine made plenty of it."

"Oh that's great, fantastic. Otherwise I'd have to go gather a bunch more herbs from that nasty Wraith planet. You saved me a ton of trouble. I just love you."

"Thank you so much, my darling. But what do we do about Sheppard?"

"Forget about him." He turned to the Marines, "Hey, do you guys have a jail in this place?"

One of them spoke up, "Yes, sir. We have a brig at the bottom of the central tower."

"Well, put him there. I'm sure his cold will clear up soon." He dismissed Sheppard and the guards.

The Guardian held Lucius' arm. "My darling, stop, wait. I can sense Sheppard's mind. He is planning to overpower the guards and escape."

"What? Really?"

"Yes. John Sheppard is very cunning. He is the best fighter in the city. There's no telling what he might do. Lucius, let me go with them. I'll make sure he reaches the brig safely. Otherwise someone might get hurt."

"Hmm, yeah. Better safe than sorry. Okay, go with them." He addressed the Marines, "I want someone watching the brig at all times, day and night." He turned to the Guardian, "Come right back when you're done."

"Yes, Lucius."

"Good. And then, after you come back, I want to tell you some more of my stories. We already know each other really well, my dear, but I want to make sure you know me really, really, well. We'll go to my quarters and have another nice long private candlelight dinner, just you and me. We'll get a bottle of that great Athosian port.."

She looked disappointed, "More stories?"

"Hmm. Yeah, I already told you my best ones. You're right. Don't want to repeat myself."

He thought a moment, "Wait, I got it! How about instead you tell me some of your own stories? You must have lots. All sorts of really exciting adventures, like how you beat the bad guys with those amazing powers of yours. I heard a ton of rumors about you. Some of those rumors are pretty wild. Hey, is it true that you can fly?"

"Uh, well.."

"Not now. Over dinner. I want to hear your best stories. Oh, and also tell me what powers you used, the real ones. It will help me to know you better."

"Of course, darling. I'd be delighted. Although I have to admit my life's been mostly boring. Well, other than fighting the Wraith, of course. There were some exciting battles there. I suppose I could tell you about those."

"Wonderful. I can't wait." He paused, "And then, maybe afterwards, after a few drinks, we can discuss, you know, that problem. You know the one."

"But darling, I already told you.."

"We gotta solve it, that problem, one way or another. We have to take care of it."

"Oh Lucius.."

"It's okay. Don't worry. I'm sure there's a loophole somewhere. There's always a loophole. An escape clause or something. We just gotta find it."

"I'm sorry but there just isn't one."

"Well, we'll see. We'll just keep talking, you and me. Eventually we'll figure it out."

"All right."

"Go on, my love. Meet me back at my quarters as soon as you can." He kissed her cheek.

The Guardian walked over and held Sheppard's arm, her face stern. "All right, let's go. No funny stuff; I don't want to hurt you. Guards, stay back and keep your weapons trained on him until he's locked safely in the brig."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

The Guardian addressed the Marine guards, "I want one of you upstairs in the observation room monitoring the brig at all times. Rotate every eight hours."

"Ma'am." They left.

Sheppard stood inside the brig with his arms crossed. The Guardian turned and walked out of the view of the cameras, standing in the entrance vestibule but still within visual sight of the brig.

{ John, start pacing back and forth. Try not to make any noise. }

He did. He walked back and forth like a zoo animal in a cage.

{ Good. Do a few more passes. Vary your arms a bit. Use the same path. Yes, that's excellent. }

After a minute she nodded, { The camera is looping now. }

She teleported herself into the brig. She immediately ran and grabbed Sheppard and hugged him tightly, "John, I can't keep this up much longer. Every minute I'm near him it grows stronger. Help me!"

He consoled her, "Hey, shush, you're doing great. That was great acting."

"I wasn't acting with him. I was just giving in. John, I'm barely holding on."

"I suppose just exploding him is out of the question?"

"I can't harm him now; it's too late. His hold on me is too strong."

"Explain it to me. What's going on with you?"

"John, I'm trapped."

"How? Is it because of what you were talking about before? That hidden suicide device that your creators put inside you?"

She held him again, putting her head on his shoulder, eyes closed, speaking softly, "Yes."

"Tell me."

{ John, you cannot reveal this secret to anyone, ever. Promise me you won't add it to O'Neil's dossier on me. }

{ I promise. No one will ever know. }

{ Well, okay, uh, there is something... located high on the back of my neck, a genetic modification to my brain. }

{ A modification? }

{ It's literally part of my brain stem, encoded right in to my DNA. It's organically infused throughout my entire medulla. It's impossible to remove or deactivate. }

{ What is it? }

{ It's called a Termination Fuse. }

 _"Hey, Sara, my love? Where are you? The guard says you're not in the brig. I'm in the control room."_

"John, it's Lucius. What do I do?"

"Stall him."

"How?"

"Uh, tell him that, uh, something in the city got busted. Tell him that you need to fix it."

She quickly closed her eyes, "I'm triggering an alert in the desalinization plant."

There was a 'bong' noise that reverberated throughout the city.

 _"Hey, what was that? I heard a big sound, like a bell."_

She tapped her radio, "I'm sorry, Lucius. The city notified me that there's a problem with a pressure buildup in the reverse osmosis filters in the city's water desalinization plant. If the filters blow we will lose our entire water supply. Can I please go fix it?"

 _"Oh, uh.. one of the tech guys is telling me about it, just a sec.. yeah, he says it's critical. Go fix it. "_

"Thank you, honey. I'll come back up as fast as I can."

 _"Good, call me when you're done."_

"Thank you, my darling." She tapped her mic off.

She made a sigh of relief, "We have some time now."

"Genie, that was perfect."

Sheppard switched to silent mode, { Okay, so what is this 'Termination Fuse' thing? }

{ It is a failsafe, in case I am ever captured by the enemy. If I am tortured and the enemy succeeds in breaking my mind, a small explosive will fire and blow my brain stem out. It will kill me instantly and painlessly. }

{ Oh my god. }

{ That way the enemy can't subvert me, force me to reveal secrets, or brainwash me and turn me as a weapon against my own people. It's foolproof. }

{ What triggers it exactly? }

{ Mental resistance. If I fight too hard and reach my limit, it fires. I don't know the exact threshold, but I think it's pretty high. }

He pulled her in tighter, { Oh, god, Genie, I'm so sorry. }

{ John, if Lucius pushes me too hard, if he gives me a direct order to do something that I really don't want to do, like an order to kill Rodney, it will trigger and I'll drop dead. }

{ Has he pushed you hard yet? }

{ No. He has been been pretty careful with me so far. I've been lucky. He knows that I have mind powers so he is being patient, gently testing to see how far he can go with me. The problem is that I don't know where the threshold is set on the fuse exactly. It might even be cumulative, where if I mentally resist him too many times in too short a period of time it fires. I don't know the exact trigger mechanism. That's why I'm resisting only when I must. So far I've only begun to resist him strongly whenever he touches on the problem of the Bond and getting rid of Rodney so he can marry me. He's been really careful about that. }

{ Oh man. So why is he insisting on marrying you? }

{ It's because he has this weird chivalric notion that he has to marry a woman before he can have his way with her. He's wooing Teyla and Weir too, but his heart is really set on me. He says he wants to marry me first so I think they are safe for now. }

She pulled back from him, { The more I'm near Lucius the stronger his mental control gets, so I have to fight harder and harder. John, help me! }

{ Look, Genie, listen to me carefully. You gotta stay away from him. Run and get as far away from him as you can. Use the gate if you have to. Leave the city. At least until your head clears. }

{ It's too late now. I know he really wants to marry me, and his control over me is too strong now for me to just leave, and I won't leave Rodney behind. Maybe I could have escaped earlier, but I didn't want to abandon my city. Now I've waited too long. You're right, I should have fled. Why didn't I..? }

{ Hey, it's okay; don't beat yourself up about it. You haven't been thinking clearly. }

{ No I haven't. My thoughts are sluggish. My head is full of cotton. I'm almost out of time. I screwed up. I screwed up again. I always screw up. I hurt Rodney. I hurt my Rodney.. }

{ Genie, just calm down. }

{ John, please, what do we do? }

{ We need a plan. }

{ A plan? }

{ First, do you think you can formulate an antidote to his Kickapoo Joy Juice? Or do we first need to dry out Beckett and McKay to do that? }

{ Uh, no, I think I can do it. There's a sealed bio-lab that you people haven't explored yet. I used the Nucleotide Analyzer in there on the trace droplets that Cadman's forensics team had recovered in order to generate the protein sequence map data that the Protein Generator is using to make Lucius' medicine vials. }

{ We gotta grab that Protein Generator machine, grab all those vials, and erase that map data. }

{ Uh, okay.. }

{ What about an antidote? }

{ Oh, right. Sorry, I'm just too addled right now to think clearly. Uh, I think I can use the bio-lab's biomolecular modeling system to analyze the protein map data to find some weak chemical bonds - it is a rather delicate molecule - in order to create a simple protein map to manufacture an enzyme that can break those bonds and neutralize it. Then we can use the Protein Generator machine to crank out vials of the enzyme, enough to inoculate everybody in the city. It will have to be injected intravenously, however, because I won't have time to develop the required protein coating that will allow it to survive stomach acids for ingestion through the small intestine.. }

"Nevermind that. The point is, you can do it, right? Create an antidote?"

{ Uh, yeah, but not right now. My mind is a total fog. I can hardly think straight. }

"Right, so we gotta get you dried out first before anything else."

"Yes," She spoke aloud, holding him, gripping the back of his shirt tightly, "John, please help me. My control is slipping.. Lucius wants to get rid of Rodney. I can't.. please.."

"Okay, okay, calm down." He released her. "You're right, this has gone on far too long. Your life is in danger now. Let me think a second." He looked down at the floor.

After a few moments he looked back up, his face grim, "Okay, we do Plan B. Spring me from the brig. I'll take care of him. You stay here."

"John.. that's murder."

"Genie, it's either you or him. He's co-opted the entire Expedition. We're all in danger now. Not just Rodney."

"What if you just knocked him unconscious instead? Carried him through the gate?"

He considered it, "That's trickier. There are people always hanging around him. If I run into any resistance things might turn ugly. Other people might get hurt. Hmm, maybe if we create a diversion somehow, and then I overpowered him and hijacked a jumper?"

The Guardian checked herself. She raised a hand, { John, stop. You have to stop. Please stop thinking about hurting Lucius. }

"Why?"

{ I'm fighting an urge to alert the guards right now. The pressure is building in my mind. Ugh, it's growing stronger. I want to call Lucius on my radio, to warn him. I'm fighting it. Oh, it's building, the pressure. I have to really fight it.. }

"Hey."

{ John, stop thinking about hurting Lucius. Quickly! }

He waved his hands, "Okay, okay! I love Lucius! He's a great guy! I promise I won't do anything to him! Just settle down!"

She staggered back, "Oh, that was close."

"I am so sorry, Genie. I didn't know you're that near the edge."

She grabbed him again, "I am. John, I'm losing control. Help me! Please!"

"Okay, okay, lemmie think. We need a Plan C."

He started pacing, thinking of different options.

Whatever plan he came up with, he knew that he would have to convince Genie that he wasn't intending to hurt Lucius. Otherwise she would never let him leave the brig. That greatly limited his options.

Even stunning Lucius with a simple Zat gun shot was too much at this point. Nor could he simply lie to her and then sneak off and and zap him, because Genie would sense his intent.

 _Hmm._ _I need to convince Lucius to leave the city of his own accord._

 _But how?_

 _What could entice him to leave?_

 _What could make him want to leave the city?_

 _To flee..?_

 _Yeah. But for what?_

 _A fake self-destruct sequence maybe?_

 _No, it would cause a panic. Distress everybody, Lucius especially. Genie is already probably too far gone for that gambit._

 _What else?_

 _Think, John, think!_

He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he kept pacing.

He froze.

He smiled.

He pulled three vials out of his front pants pocket.

"John, are those..?"

"Relax, Genie. I think I have a Plan C." He popped open the first vial and drank it.

He made a face. "Ugh, this crap tastes like turpentine."

He forced himself to drink the second vial. Then he drank the third.

He bent over, hands on his knees, trying hard not to heave. He barely was able to keep it down.

"Genie, how long does this stuff take to work?"

"Uh, on an empty stomach it works fast. It gets absorbed directly from the stomach lining."

"Good. I haven't eaten. Let's wait a minute."

While they waited he asked her, "Anything going to happen to me from drinking this?"

"No, the chemical compound does nothing to the host. For it to trigger it has to mix with your body's scent to create a chemical signature. Basically you emit a really strong pheromone that triggers the oxytocin pair-bonding effect in the other person."

"Pair? Not everybody?"

"No. Remember, oxytocin isn't some magic love potion that makes you want to cuddle everyone in sight. It only makes you feel attraction for a specific individual. Some attraction has to already be present for it to work on the target."

"So why is everyone attracted to Lucius then?"

"Hmm. Good question. I think it might be because of Lucius' personality. He has a pathological desire to be liked. He glad-hands everybody, tells them his stories, entertains everyone. Because of that people tend to like him in return, at least until be becomes annoying. But by that point it's too late. His pheromone triggers a chemical cascade in your brain that floods your mind with happy chemicals and you're hooked."

"So with this stuff in me I'll only hook people who already are predisposed to like me."

"Which is basically everyone on the base, including me. You're quite the popular guy, John."

"Lucky me. Okay, Genie, try smelling me."

She walked up and held him, sniffing behind his ear. "Yeah, it's there. Ooh, I like this scent. Mmm."

She kept sniffing him. She whispered, "At first I thought that Lucius was wearing some kind of awful cologne. You smell very nice, John."

He blushed, "Thank you. So how do you feel?"

She waited a few seconds. "No, I'm still attracted to Lucius. Ugh, it's getting stronger."

"Try again sniffing behind my other ear."

"Okay," She kept sniffing deeply, "Mmm, John, this scent is lovely. I could do this all day."

"Heh, that's nice. Now?"

She scrunched her eyes shut, "Gah, it's even stronger! I have this huge urge to call Lucius on my radio to warn him about you. Why isn't this working?"

"Dang it, I don't know. You're smelling it, the pheromone, right? Not something else?"

"Oh yes. My head is spinning. You took a triple dose, and it's really hitting me. I am so buzzed..."

She yelled, "Gah! It's even stronger! Hurry, take this and destroy it!" She ripped off her radio headset and tossed it on the floor. Sheppard stomped on it with his military boot, shattering the earpiece and microphone into pieces.

"Dammit, this should be working. Why isn't it?"

She bent over, her eyes tightly shut. "We're not doing something right... Gaaah! Hurry! Do something!"

"What are we missing.. something.." Sheppard snapped his fingers, "Attraction!"

She was still bent over, "W-what?"

"Genie, you just said that some attraction has to already be present for the oxytocin hormone to work on its target, right?"

"Y-yes.."

"C'mon, stand up. Look at me."

She forced herself upright, "Uh, okay.."

"Remember P49-M87? When you confessed that you were hiding your feelings of attraction for me using your limiter? Dig in to those memories. Think about those memories again."

"Uh.. okay. I already told Rodney, so I hope this will be all right. I'm trying to think those lustful thoughts again.. Oh, this is really embarrassing.."

"Good. Concentrate on those bad thoughts. Think naughty thoughts about me. C'mon, you can do it."

"Uhm, sorry, it's not working." She grabbed her head, "Gah! Now I'm thinking lustful thoughts about Lucius. Oh gross! John!"

"Okay, that backfired. What else.."

"Argh! Hurry!"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! Uh, okay, you need to be attracted to me, real attraction..."

He thought furiously, "I think I got it. Ugh, talk about embarrassing. Now Genie, listen to me again carefully. I know for a fact that you have real feelings for me. You are just in denial about it. Not just lust, but real feelings. You finally admitted it when you were drunk. You don't remember it."

"I-I'm in denial?"

"Search yourself. When you were drunk you said that you sensed that I'm a broken man, that I have walls around myself that are a mile high. I never let anybody in. Nobody. Not even my ex-wife. You sensed that hidden part of me."

"What? John.. Uh.."

"Yes! You said you wanted to heal me. That's your real attraction! Think!"

She did, diving down deep into herself, forcing past her own walls of denial that were also a mile high. Yes, those feelings were there.

Yes.

Deep down, she wanted him.

Because she wanted to heal him.

"John, I remember now. That night when I was drunk. Yes, I can love you, heal you. Nobody else can do it.. Not the same way I love Rodney, but I can breach those walls, save you from killing yourself."

"Yes. Yes! Heal me. Heal me right now. There's no cameras. Nobody is watching. Do it. Do it now."

"What? Oh.. I, uh, I can try.. uh.."

She screamed and fell to the floor. "Noooooo!"

He fell down next to her, "Genie! Do it!"

"No! You don't understand. John, stop it! Stop it! Stop it! You just made my attraction for Lucius even stronger!"

She grabbed her head while on the floor, "Gaaah!"

He fell to the floor next to her. He pulled away her wildly grasping hands from the sides of her head, gently putting his own hands there instead, cradling her head, lifting it up close to his, "What's going on? Genie, talk to me!"

"No.. I'm going to mentally call the guards now. Betray you. I can't stop myself. No, it's too strong. John, I'm overwhelmed. The fuse is going to fire. I can feel it."

"Genie, stop fighting it! Call the guards on me! I surrender!"

"No, it's too late.. the back of my neck is getting warm.."

"No! Dammit!"

He thought furiously. What were they doing wrong?

He suddenly realized his blunder.

They were doing it backwards.

Lucius loved everybody.

That was why they were all attracted to him. Captured by him.

She didn't need to love him.

He needed to love her. So simple.

But now there was no time left.

"John, goodbye. Tell Rodney I love him."

"Stop it! Genie, read my mind!" He grabbed her head and lifted it up, looking into her tragic eyes..

.. as she closed them for what she thought was the last time..

.. when he suddenly pressed his mouth on hers ..

.. and gave her a deep, deep kiss.

Her eyes flew open again as he kissed her. The kiss was beyond passionate, open mouthed, his tongue pressing on hers. She sensed his raw desire, his need for her.

Her eyes fluttered for a moment, then she closed them again, her arms reaching up to embrace him as she began to return the kiss.

{ John. }

He kept his lips pressed on hers, pressing his mouth deeply and passionately against her own.

{ You did it. You flipped me. You can stop now. }

But he didn't stop. He kept forcing the kiss on her.

What was he doing?

Her eyes flew open again.

He was going too far.

She realized that John had let himself go to save her, and now he had gone over the edge. She sensed that he was beyond the point of no return.

She wanted to struggle to get out from under him, but her body refused to comply.

He wanted her, she responded.

She felt her body start to give in.

{ John.. please.. no.. }

He pulled away and gasped for air. "There, that should do it. You okay?"

She continued to lay with her back on the floor, stunned, gasping for breath.

She recovered quickly, rolling away from him. She pushed herself up on her hands and knees, still gasping. A small amount of his spittle from the kiss fell out of her own mouth and made a tiny droplet on the floor.

"John.. please don't.. I can't.."

He pulled himself up to sitting position on the floor and smiled, "Congrats. Now you have my cold."

She touched her lips. "Y-Your cold?"

"Yeah." He rubbed his fingers across his teeth like a toothbrush. "Ugh, that was gross."

"I-I have your cold?"

"Yeah."

"So you weren't..?"

"Huh? No. Bleh. Wait few days and you'll be sneezing as bad as me."

She sat up cross-legged, "I will wait. John, how did you know that would work?"

"Well, when I asked you yesterday if you had any hocus pocus to fix my sniffles, I could tell from the way you hesitated that you Lanteans must have no cure for the common cold."

"Uh, no, we don't. Rhinoviruses mutate too fast. In fact, we believe it is healthy for children to pick up a few simple cold infections during their development to help build up their immune systems."

"Heh, just like on _Star Trek_. Doctor McCoy said there was no cure for the common cold in the 24th century either."

She touched her lips again. "But I sensed your mind.."

"Oh, sorry for not stopping sooner. I hadda make sure you flipped and stayed flipped."

She marveled at him. He had fooled her into thinking that he was taking her right there on the floor of the brig. He did it to guarantee that her brain's oxytocin hormones had firmly and irrevocably imprinted him in her mind before her Termination Fuse fired.

It was a convincing performance. She felt that John's mental discipline had to be as strong as Telya's, maybe even as strong as Maybourne's.

But was it just a convincing act? Or was Sheppard actually releasing his inner self for a moment, showing a glimpse of his real, raw, feelings for her, feelings that he actually had for her deep down inside?

Well, it didn't matter.

"Congratulations, Genie. You are soon going to be immune to Kickapoo Joy Juice." He sneezed.

She smiled. He sneezed again.

She laughed, then she bent over and hugged him.

* * *

 _Two days later_

The puddle jumper soared over the Lantean Ocean. Lucius and the Guardian were riding together inside. They had just departed from Atlantis and were heading over open water.

Lucius was strapped in the co-pilot seat. He was looking out the window like a kid on an amusement ride. "This is marvelous. Fantastic. Simply incredible."

The Guardian smiled at him as she piloted the ship, "Yes, we have a nice view of the ocean today. Clear skies, no clouds."

"Okay, so what do I do to pilot this? You didn't let me take off."

"Lucius, practicing takeoffs and landings comes later. You need to first practice your basic mental control of the ship: simple turns, ascents, and descents."

"Got it. Right. Makes sense. So, uh, how do I do, say, a left turn?"

"Wait. First, you need to introduce yourself to the ship."

"Huh? I introduce myself?"

"Yes. For example, the name of this ship is Tarai. So you say, 'Hello, Tarai.'"

"Oh, of course. I introduce myself to the ship." He waved his hand vaguely around the front control panel as he cleared his throat, "Uh, Hello Tarai."

He turned and look at the Guardian, "Did I do it right?"

"Close enough. Hmm. He doesn't like you."

"Oh, he doesn't? Oh well."

He mumbled to himself, "I guess there's no accounting for taste." He spoke up, "Anyway, that's done. So what do I do next?"

"Well, to make a left turn you simply tell the ship to turn to the left. It's very easy. Try it."

He flexed his fingers in front of himself. "Okay.. uh, there's no steering column."

"No, it's mental, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Okay, let me try it."

He said in a loud voice, "Turn left! Leftward turn! To port! Leftward ho!" He looked at her, "It's not working."

"No, I said it's mental. Try again."

"Uh, how?"

"Just imagine the ship turning to the left in your mind. It's easy."

"Okay.." He closed his eyes tightly and grimaced.

Meanwhile the Guardian sniffled her nose.

"I'm imaging it turning. Is the ship turning?"

"Uh, no."

He opened his eyes again. "It's still not working. Why isn't it working? Beckett gave me the shot with the ATA therapy. It should be working, right? Why is it not working?"

The Guardian sniffled her nose again, "Well, the ATA shot only works on 47% of the subjects who are inoculated with it. I guess you must not be one of those 47%, sorry." She didn't mention that she had palmed the shot off from Beckett's tray when he wasn't looking and had surreptitiously replaced the syringe with a vitamin K shot.

Lucius slumped in his seat. "Aw. I really wanted to fly."

The radio came on. _"Jumper GA-1, this is Atlantis, please respond."_

The Guardian activated the radio. "Jumper GA-1. What is it, Chuck?"

 _"I'm sorry, ma'am, but security reports that Colonel John Sheppard is no longer in the brig. He escaped."_

Lucius quickly sat up. "What? Sheppard escaped? Where's the microphone? Let me talk to him!"

The Guardian pointed at the console. He leaned in to the mic, "Find him! Send every guard you got! How did he escape? During mealtime I bet."

 _"We don't know sir. There's nothing on the cameras. Don't worry, we'll find him. Atlantis out."_

Lucius started grousing, "Oh, that man is crafty. You were right, dear, he's very crafty. Too crafty. I was too nice to him. That's my weakness. I'm always too nice. And where is that Rodney McKay? He's been missing for two days!"

It was because two days earlier the Guardian had gently put McKay to sleep. She had then lovingly placed his sleeping form inside her own stasis chamber. It was for his protection. That way he would remain perfectly safe and also not suffer any withdrawal symptoms.

Lucius looked over and saw that the Guardian was busy pushing one of her nostrils closed with the side of her finger. She then made a big loud snorting noise up her other nostril in a very unlady-like fashion.

Lucius scolded her, "Dear, that's disgusting. Don't swallow that stuff. When you have a hayfever allergy you blow your nose out, not in."

"Oh, I blow my nose out? Like this?"

She blew her nose and a bunch of snot came dribbling out of her nose. She wiped the snot off along her white sleeve, with a trail of glistening mucus sliding from her wrist up to her elbow.

Lucius made a face, "Ew, gross! What are you, five years old? Look, we gotta work on your manners. You're so beautiful, and you look like a princess, but you act like a slob. You eat with your mouth open, you shove big chunks of hamburger into your maw, then you wash it down with a big glass of juice in one huge gulp. Then you burp. It's totally rude. And you scratch your armpit and your butt. You are so not like a lady. We really, really, gotta work on your manners after we get married."

She sighed, "Well, I do admit that I used to act that way all the time when the humans first woke me up. Over time I've since learned to use proper etiquette in front of humans. I only act like my old self around you now. Also, I've never had a cold before, so I have no idea what to do there." She sneezed on the console.

{ Hey! }

{ Oh, I'm so sorry, Tarai. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Here, let me clean that off you. } She started rubbing her other white sleeve across the spittle-splattered control panel.

{ Please don't do that again. }

{ I promise I won't. Sorry. }

Meanwhile, Lucius was staring at her. "Wait, you have a cold?"

"Yeah. John gave it to me. I never had one before. It's awful."

"He-he did? When did it start?"

"A couple hours ago. There's practically a river of mucus going down my throat right now. Ugh." She snorted again.

Lucius felt relieved. "Oh, good. Good. Two hours. You scared me for a minute. So we still have our special relationship, right?"

"Hmm, our relationship?"

"You lost your sense of smell only a couple hours ago. We still got time then. I can work with that. I can work with that somehow. Okay, uh, first, we gotta turn back. Go back to the city. Turn around. You gotta find Sheppard for me. I know you can do it with your powers. Piece of cake. Find him, find him while you're still, uh, in our special relationship... Then what.. oh boy.."

She ignored him, sitting placidly in the pilot seat as the ship continued to move out over the ocean. She sniffled again.

"Hey, honey, c'mon. Turn us around. Please."

"Sorry, but I take orders only from John Sheppard now."

"Huh? What?"

"He gave himself a triple-dose of your medicine. I'm revving my metabolism even faster than normal to try to clear it out of my system now that I finally caught his cold. I figure it will take at least a couple days before I'm fully clear."

"No.. he didn't. Tell me he didn't.."

She smiled again, "He did. My orders are to fly you out and dump you..."

Lucius grew alarmed, "What? Dump me? Over the ocean? You-you can't! You can't do that! I can't even swim! Oh please.. No.."

The Guardian put the ship on autopilot. She turned turned her seat to face him. He yelped as she used her TK power to invisibly swivel his seat towards hers, her face stern. "Look, Lucius, the only reason, the *only* reason mind you, that your body has not been turned into a sticky protoplasm splattered all over the inside of this jumper is because, first, Tarai would not like that, and second, because John Sheppard specifically ordered me not to harm you. At least not directly."

"Good. Please. Look, I'm a nice guy. Everybody likes me. I never hurt anybody!"

The Guardian growled, her voice low, "No. What you did to those women was rape, by any legal definition. Now, if it was my own choice, I'd probably treat you the same way I'd treat a naughty Wraith, one of the nastier ones - the ones who hunt runners or who torture humans for sport before feeding on them - with my 'extra-special' treatment. I've never done it to a human before, but I wouldn't mind doing it on you. It works like this."

She mentally projected an image. He yelled, "Argh! No! That's horrible! Stop it!"

She stopped sending the image. "That was simply an example. Now, as I was about to say before you interrupted me, my orders are to fly you out and dump you deep in the mainland somewhere."

"The-the mainland? The mainland? But the mainland is uninhabited."

"Yes."

"It's just woods and jungles."

"Yes. And then.."

"You can't do that either! I don't know how to survive in the wilderness!"

"Look, stop interrupting me. As I was about to say, and then I'm supposed to leave you with a portable shelter and seven days worth of MREs and water rations."

"Seven days? Why seven days?"

"Because it will take about seven days to get you fully detoxed."

"And then? And then what?"

"Hmm, I need to check something first. Lucius, do you know our gate address?"

"Huh? No. I wasn't paying attention when Beckett dialed it. Honest!"

"You're telling the truth. Very good. So in that case my answer to you is this: After you are confirmed to be fully detoxed, John will dump you back in your village..."

"He will? He'll send me back home? After all I did? Oh, thank you. Thank you. I always said that he was a nice man. A very kind man. A very generous man.."

".. after we inoculate all the villagers with the antidote enzyme. Sheppard is inoculating everyone in the city right now."

Lucius slumped in his seat again.

"Oh."

* * *

The Guardian was alone. She entered the Forbidden Archives.

She walked up to an empty shelf next to a stasis tank. She took a moment to coo at a motionless snake-like creature that could be seen frozen behind the glass of the tank. She removed some small vials from her robe and carefully placed them on the empty shelf.

She looked around the room at the other forbidden devices that she had accumulated, some recent, some very ancient: the Replicator Table, the Time Machine, the Ascendant Neutralizer, the Vacuum Bottle, the Attero Device, the Quantum Mirror, and other artifacts.

Yes, she was almost ready. She still needed to talk to Beckett about his new anti-Wraith bio-weapon. Other than that, she was ready.

All she needed to do now was wait for the Enemy to show itself.

If it ever did.

* * *

{ Pooh, I'm so sorry. }

"Kit, no, I'm the one that needs to apologize to you. Not you to me."

{ Meredith, I betrayed you. }

"Oh bosh. Lucius was just wooing you. I can't believe how I was acting. I was way worse than you. I was ready to just gave you away, to give you away practically as the best man at your wedding!"

{ That would have never happened, my love. He was trying to find ways to have you 'taken care of'. I could never let that happen to you. }

"Kit, look, it obviously wasn't your fault. I'm just glad you told me about that kiss before Sheppard did. Man, you should have seen Sheppard's apology to me, heh. I kept telling him that it was okay. I mean, he took that drug, tricked you with that kiss, got you imprinted on himself and saved the whole city. I even thanked him."

{ I'm glad. Still, Meredith, I.. }

"Look, you were drugged. Not your fault. It was just a kiss anyway. You are worth more than a kiss to me."

{ Thank you, my love. }

He hesitated, "Uh, I just want to make sure, Sheppard didn't put his hands on you, did he? You can tell me if he did. Be honest. I won't blame you at all."

{ No, it was just one kiss. Nothing more. }

{ Ok. It's fine then. }

Apparently Sheppard did not go into detail about the incident.

"Kit, how's your cold doing?"

{ Beckett gave me something called antihistamines. They seem to be working. }

"Good. Your schnoz will be clear in five or six more days. How's your head?"

{ It's clear now. }

"Great. So what happened to Lucius?"

{ Sheppard will send him back to his village. There they will deal with him. }

"Ouch, it sucks to be him. What about his potion? The formula?"

{ I destroyed all copies of the formula. I hid the Protein Generator machine and took care of the remaining vials. }

"Aw, why did you do that? That stuff is so amazing. I wanted to study it some more, test it.. on myself maybe? You know, for science..?"

She sat up, { Meredith Rodney McKay, absolutely not. No. No, no, no. }

"Oh, you're no fun."

She laid back down on the bed, { So what's the status on the CMM Bridge? }

"On schedule. We've mapped all of the 24 unused space gates on the Pegasus side for collection. The _Daedalus_ and the new _Apollo_ will be back in Pegasus in a few days to start picking them up and start placing them along the route. The Milky Way side is already complete and the construction of Midway Station is almost finished. With luck we might have an inter-galactic bridge working as soon as two weeks from now."

{ I can't wait. Vegas? }

"Vegas, baby. Vegas."

{ Daniel Jackson says I'm not supposed to cheat at the casinos. }

"Huh? Aw c'mon. I just want to test some scientific theories about your powers. Just a little.. please?"

{ Rodney... }

"Feh. Well, we first gotta figure out how to even get you inside a casino. You look 20 so they'll card you at the door. You'll need a passport or some other kind of official ID, and I don't think that an ID with a birthdate of 8008 BCE is going to pass muster at the door."

{ I need a fake ID? }

"Yeah. The SGC has connections with the IC. They can handle it for us."

{ If I get an ID, then I want it to be Canadian. }

He sat up in bed, "Really? Wow, Kit, I'm honored."

She smiled at him.

"Still, I think it would work best if you were made an American, not a Canadian."

{ An American? Why? }

"Because then our kids would have joint Canadian-American citizenship. It will give them a lot more options for going to college, their career choices, and.. mmphf"

He stopped talking because she had pushed him down on the bed and had started kissing him. { You finally want children. Oh Meredith.. }

He pulled back, "Ack! Don't give me your cold!"

She rolled back sheepishly, "Sorry. I'm just.. oh.. I'm so happy right now."

He laid back down, "Well, c'mon, look at the situation. The Wraith have disappeared. The Replicators are still sitting on Asura doing absolutely nothing. There is no sign that the hybrid even exists. You're not allowed to touch the Ori - that's Daniel Jackson's problem. So we're basically done, right? No enemies are left."

"No enemies..."

"Well, what do you think? Should we start working on a family?"

She looked up at the ceiling, her face in tears. "I.. I never expected this. I honestly never thought I would survive this long.."

"Well? What do you think?"

"Soon. Not yet, but soon. Let's find out what happened to the Wraith first."

"Yeah, probably a good idea. Also we'd probably want to run this past Weir first. She needs to consider the rest of the Expedition. She might think that our starting a family on the base might be too soon, and that it might cause ill feelings if nobody else was allowed to start one yet and we went ahead and did it anyway."

She sighed, "As much as I want a family, you are right. We should still wait. We need to make sure the Wraith are gone first."

"And then?"

"I want a boy."

"A boy? Can your powers pick the sex like that?"

"No, dear, only you can do that. The Y chromosome is your department." She rolled on top of him. "Here, let me demonstrate."

"Oh? Oh. Oh!"

Rodney did end up getting her cold after all.

* * *

 _On the opposite side of the Pegasus Galaxy, one month ago  
_

The explosion rocked the hive ship.

"Divert all power to hull regeneration!"

Another explosion. A large hunk of the ship's interior calcium infrastructure shook loose from the ceiling of the Control Center and dropped on the ship's commander.

"Arggh!"

The commander's left arm was now crushed under a ton of hive ship material. He grimaced and ripped his arm off at the elbow, standing up unsteadily.

The subcommander yelled, "Commander!"

"I am all right."

Another Wraith yelled from his post, "Hive 3 was destroyed. We have only our own ship and Hive 2 left."

The subcommander hissed, "I cannot believe this. Our own queen betrayed us. The rest of the _duodecim_ turned on us! Why, commander, why?"

The commander - called 'Todd' by Sheppard - stood with his torn veins and ligaments still hanging out of his partially severed arm.

"Because I made a mistake."

"Sir, I was there with you. I saw it happen. Why did you allow that.. that abomination.. to enter the queen's chamber?"

Todd whirled, "Because Queen Death ordered me to! She wanted to see the experiment for herself! I had warned her, but how could I refuse her!?"

"Ten minutes. I saw it. Within ten minutes of that thing entering the queen's chamber, our great queen was thrown down on her knees. She was on her *knees*, kneeling before that *thing*. How could this happen?"

Todd had seen it too, how the hybrid had put her black-gloved hands on both sides of Queen Death's head as she knelt before her new master.

Then he saw both females stand and face each other as Michaela removed her right glove to feed on the ex-queen. But not completely.

"Her mind has been dominated, overthrown. Then her memories were absorbed. She is no longer Queen Death. She is merely a drone now. A slave. To her."

Another explosion.

Todd yelled, "Prepare to jump to hyperspace! Tell Hive 2 to block for our escape!"

The navigator asked, "Coordinates?"

"It doesn't matter! Just jump!" He saw the huge wave of darts approaching their location. They were already opening fire. "Jump! Jump now!"

He saw Hive 2 start to explode just as the room visibly warped and deformed in his vision, then it stabilized again. Todd then saw the blue-white silvery streamers of hyperspace on the display monitor as the vortex surrounded the hive ship.

"Continue this course, whatever it is, for three light years. Then stop and determine our position."

The subcommander reported, "We escaped successfully." Then he added, "But sir, our collective has betrayed us. We are but one ship now. To survive we must find another fleet and join it. We must submit ourselves and prostrate ourselves before another queen.."

Todd grabbed the subcommander's black coat by the collar and pulled him right to his face, "You fool! Don't you understand what is happening? She has dominated Queen Death herself! We are finished!"

"But.."

"There is no queen in the galaxy stronger than her! Michaela will use the remainder of Queen Death's fleet to attack the other fleets, destroy all who oppose her, subjugate the rest and absorb them into her collective, dominating every queen she meets, absorbing their memories one by one, until there are none left!"

"Then.. then we are doomed."

Todd thought a moment, "Find our ship's tracking device. Disconnect it from the ship, then bring the unit to me."

"But sir, you know the Basic Law. It is required that every hive ship must have an anonymous tracking device, one that reports our position with neither our identity nor our allegiance indicated, so that no two hives will ever try to cull the same planet at the same time. To remove it would be a violation of the Basic Law. You know the penalty for that."

"I do. Remove it anyway. I don't want Michaela to track us."

"Sir, if we violate the Basic Law then we are truly finished. Our rights as Wraith become forfeit. Every other Wraith ship in the galaxy will attack us on sight, including our own fleet!"

"You idiot, we don't have a fleet anymore! Soon there will be no free hives anywhere, then no more Wraith!"

"No more Wraith?"

"If we are not free, we are not Wraith!"

Todd slumped in the command chair. He could not believe the folly of his mistake. He thought he was creating the beginning of a new and improved race, one that was superior to both Lantean and Wraith. Queen Death had herself approved of the project.

The fact that the Hybrid 1 experiment was a failure was a disappointment to him, but it was not unexpected. Intermixing two such wildly different methods of reproduction made it unlikely that the first attempt would succeed. Todd had plenty of stem cells remaining from the Guardian, so he would simply try again, re-balancing the ratio of Lantean DNA versus Wraith DNA until he found the optimum mix for a successful outcome.

What he did not anticipate was the reaction of Hybrid 1 to the news..

.. that she was sterile.

The subcommander walked up with the tracking device and handed it to Todd.

Todd sighed as he looked at it, "We are alone."

He looked up at the subcommander and asked, "How many immature queens do we have on board?"

"Three in hibernation. But it will take at least 15 years before any of them can start to breed. Sir, where do we go in the meantime? There is nowhere we can turn."

Todd again looked up at the subcommander, and he gave him a new course setting.

"But sir, that planet is located on the opposite side of the galaxy from here."

"I know."

"It will take at least four months to get there at normal speed."

"I said I know! We go at flank speed. We do not stop for culling. Put everyone in hibernation except for a minimum flight crew. We will feed only on the prey already on board. That will cut our time in half."

"Our reserves are low." He looked at Todd's arm, "You need regeneration.."

"All in good time."

Todd held up the tracking device in his remaining hand and idly studied it.

Yes, they were alone. The future of the free Wraith now lived on exactly one hive ship. It would soon be the last free hive in the galaxy.

Michaela was mad. She was determined to prove that one entity, one alone, could dominate an entire galaxy.

All of it.

All by herself.

Both Wraith and human.

She would dominate it all.

"Subcommander, set course for Lantea."


	25. Chapter 25: Oops

**Chapter 25: Oops**

The Guardian, Teyla, and Ronon were visiting P41-K95, where Maybourne's spy network had captured a Wraith worshiper. The Wraith worshiper was easy to find, walking openly through the center of town, half-dressed, delirious, demented. He was yelling in incoherent agony due to his drug withdrawal, loudly demanding his overdue fix from his Wraith controller.

Genie had scanned the mind of the captured addict, and she determined that he did not know the reason why he was abandoned by his master. Nor did he know why the cullings had stopped. He was useless.

At P92-351 the Guardian interrogated another captured Wraith worshiper but result was the same. He did not know why he was abandoned either.

At P72-Q34 the Guardian took a chance and decided to reveal herself openly, riding her white horse into the center of the largest town. A crowd gathered around her as she dramatically threw off her gray overcloak to expose her white robe, openly declaring herself to be the White Rider. Snowmane reared up dramatically in front of the astonished and wildly cheering throng. They yelled huzzahs for the living goddess, giving her credit for the disappearance of the Wraith. She tried to explain that she wasn't a goddess and that she wasn't responsible for the Wraith vanishing but they wouldn't listen. The excited mob pressed in and began to upset the horses, so the trio rode away with many of the crowd chasing behind on foot.

They visited several more worlds in this fashion, with the Guardian first asking each eager crowd if they had seen any sign of the Wraith. None had.

Upon the completion of their visit to Manaria, which concluded with a lavish feast at the table of the Viceroy of Manaria where he regaled them with bawdy tales, fine drink, and lively laughter, the trio finally gave up their search. They jumped on their horses and galloped back to the gate to return to Atlantis.

During their ride back Teyla asked the Guardian, "I still cannot understand it. What do you think happened?"

"I don't know. I know of nothing that would have caused them to simply vanish like this."

Ronon said, "Who cares? The Wraith are gone. I think the Viceroy has the right idea: let's party and celebrate."

"I won't rest easy until we know the reason for their disappearance."

Teyla wondered, "Perhaps the Ascended finally took action against them?"

The Guardian shook her head, "No. If they wanted to stop them they would have done so long ago, before my race was exterminated." She also knew that if the Ascended did take action she would have been quietly notified about it. "Let's head back to Atlantis. Maybe some new reports have come in from elsewhere."

Ronon said, "Hey, at least we can take a break."

The Guardian heartily agreed, "Oh yes, I sooo need a vacation." She knew that the CMM Intergalactic Bridge was scheduled to go into operation any day now. Earth would soon be only 30 minutes away.*

GA-1 galloped toward the gate.

* * *

GA-1 met with Maybourne, Weir, and Sheppard in the main conference room, where they gave their negative report. Maybourne replied that none of other cells in his spy network had reported any Wraith activity either.

The meeting adjourned. The Guardian was tired and went to straight to be bed, exhausted. McKay joined her soon afterward.

Later that night McKay was summoned to the infirmary. He was wearing his bathrobe, feeling more than a little ticked-off at having his wonderful shared dream interrupted right when it was getting to the good part:

In it a pretty blond village girl was fleeing through the dank dark forest to escape the Wraith. She crashed into McKay in the forest. He was alone, wearing an Atlantis uniform. He explained to the frightened girl that they needed to stay hidden in the woods until the Wraith left. She clutched his uniform, begging him to take her away with him, telling him that her whole village was wiped out and that she had no where else to go. He gallantly protected her, enwrapping them both in an aluminum emergency blanket while sitting under a makeshift lean-to as the sun set. He explained that the Wraith would not leave the gate area until morning, so they had to wait huddled together overnight. In the darkness she held him closely for warmth as he described the wonders of Atlantis to her. In response she held him even tighter, begging him to whisk her away to that magic citadel. He said he would. She gazed into his eyes, saying that she had never met anyone so strong, so handsome, so manly. He deprecatingly waved off her effusive praise. She leaned in and tenderly tried to kiss him, but he politely declined her advances with some effort. However, she persisted. Soon he felt himself starting to give in. Lips touched, and then...

.. McKay was awakened by a loud knock on the door of the suite.

And so McKay was now feeling more than a little annoyed at the two researchers who were meekly standing in front of him in the infirmary: Doctors Hewston and Watson.

Harriet Hewston had a degree in Computer Engineering with a doctorate in physics from the University of Washington in Seattle. James "Jim" Watson had a PhD in molecular biology and biochemistry from Yale.**

Doctor Beckett had just finished his medical examination of the two of them. McKay sternly addressed his two underlings, speaking quickly in his usual clipped tones when dealing with subordinates. "You know, I think I'm a pretty easy guy to work for. That's because I'm usually doing all the really important stuff so I don't have time to micromanage all the little things I need you people to be doing, which gives you a fair amount of freedom. However, that does not mean you can run around doing whatever you please.."

"Sir, it was an accident."

"Don't interrupt me. The Guardian is inspecting the lab right now, so you can just stand there and listen to me until she arrives with her report. Now look, there are two simple house rules put in place by our landlady: Number one, nobody goes into the Forbidden Archives. Number two, nobody enters a new lab without our landlady doing a safety inspection first. That's it. Two simple rules, and you went and violated the second one."

Watson again tried to speak up in their defense, "Sir, you told us that the second rule was relaxed if the Guardian was not available. She's been gone for over a week."

"That's right. The Guardian has been off-world a lot lately, so as a compromise I talked to her and she had generously agreed to allow up to two researchers - who did not have the ATA gene - to enter a new lab without her first checking it as long that they did not touch *anything*. You were allowed to photograph control panels, artifacts, take radiation readings, catalog devices you see, and so on, as long as nothing was disturbed. Well, you did disturb something, so now she's pretty unhappy. She's checking the lab right now and should be back at any moment. Furthermore.."

"Sir, Hewston accidentally bumped a panel. She didn't mean to. The second we detected the radiation we turned it back off."

"So what? You want a medal? My four-year-old niece could figure out to turn something off if it was emitting radiation. That does not make you smart; that just makes you a little less stupid. Look, all I ask of you people is to do your jobs and not screw up. You also ticked off our landlady. You fools need to follow the rules."

Hewston protested, "Sir, just the other week you did the same thing.."

"Yes, but I am me. If I make a mistake, I can fix it. You are you, and when you make mistakes you don't have to fix them, I do."

McKay did not mention that the Guardian had become upset with him and had upbraided him in private for exploring a new lab without letting her do a safety check first. After her tongue-lashing he had promised her that he would not do it again.

Beckett sighed, "Rodney, be nice."

He turned to Beckett, "So? Are they going to live? More importantly, can I go back to bed?" He wanted very much to continue his lucid dream where it left off.

"Well, according to their body scans and blood tests they'll be all right, so yes. Although they should check back in the next 24 hours. We'll run some more tests then, just to be certain."

"Well, you were lucky.."

Just then the Guardian marched in to the infirmary. She was furious. "Where are they?"

McKay was surprised. He had never seen the Guardian so angry. He simply pointed at Hewston and Watson.

She stomped right in front of them, her fists shaking in fury. "You.. you IDIOTS!"

McKay was taken aback as she lectured the two cowering researchers. She said in a low menacing tone, "Let me explain this to you as simply as I can. 10,000 years ago this city was operating in a time of war. Our researchers were desperately trying to find ways to defeat the Wraith. That means this city is full of military-grade R&D labs for creating terrible new and experimental devices to try to stop the Wraith. Most of the weapons didn't work, so now there are highly dangerous experimental devices scattered everywhere, some of which if released can wipe out every living thing in the city."

McKay remembered the lab with the nanites that could enter the brain and cause hallucinations before killing the victim with an aneurysm in the visual cortex. He was glad the Guardian had caught it during her safety inspection of that lab, sealing it before they could blunder in and release the brain-killers into the rest of city.***

"Look, I laid down one simple rule for you morons, just one: Don't touch anything in a new lab until I do a safety check. Is that so hard to remember?" She turned to McKay, "Rodney, honestly, what is wrong with your people? How could you hire such total imbeciles?" She started pacing, "I can't believe this.. never have I seen such reckless stupidity. A Mastadge has more intelligence than you drooling idiots!"

McKay could see that the Guardian was acting just like himself whenever he was angry, speaking with the same clipped tone of voice and using the same chopping hand motions.

It was as if, in her anger, she was unconsciously channeling McKay's caustic personality. Was it due to the Bond? He wasn't sure. Whatever the reason, he saw himself in her, and he didn't like what he saw.

He said to her quietly, "Hey, Sara, c'mon, they 'fessed up."

The Guardian ignored him as she continued her rant, "So help me, I have the urge right now to detonate you two fools right where you stand.."

The two researchers stepped back in fear.

Then she made a nasty smile, ".. but I won't have to."

McKay was perplexed, "Huh?"

Her nasty smile grew, "It won't be necessary."

"Sara, what in the world are you talking about?"

The Guardian ignored him and addressed the pair, "Congratulations, Doctors Hewston and Watson. You each now have a tumor growing inside you."

Hewston raised a hand to her mouth in shock, "W-we have cancer?"

"Uhm, yes."

Watson asked anxiously, "Is it malignant?"

The Guardian thought a moment, "Hmm, I suppose the answer to your question depends on your definition of 'malignant'."

"I mean, will it spread?"

"No."

"Thank god."

The Guardian quickly added, "But it is still most definitely fatal."

"Oh no.."

"Yes. Fatal both for you and for the many innocents that could have also died because of your stupid, idiotic, blunder."

McKay was confused, "Sara, what the heck are you talking about?"

She turned to face her husband, "The device that they triggered emits irradiated particles that are genetically programmed to enter the target individual's body. They gather behind the lungs, collecting trace elements from the body to create an explosive compound in the form of a tumor. When the tumor reaches critical mass.."

McKay completed her sentence, ".. it will turn the target into a suicide bomber, killing or maiming anyone else who is nearby."

"Yes."

"Intended for the Wraith no doubt. Ingenious. And nasty."

"Too nasty. The R&D project was abandoned because it affected both humans and Wraith."

Beckett asked, "So I should scan for these tumors, then surgically remove them as soon as possible, yes?"

The Guardian addressed Beckett, "No. The tumors are about the size of a pea right now - not big enough to hurt anyone except the patient - but they are still big enough to blow the fingers off a surgeon."

"Acht, that's terrible. Lass, what do we do?"

She turned back to Hewston and Watson, whose faces had already turned white, "Congratulations, you two blockheads just wrecked my vacation. Again!"

Watson said meekly, "Ma'am?"

"Now I have to babysit you two, teleporting out the tiny growing tumor again and again, about once every six to twelve hours, until all the irradiated particles are used up. It will take days. Arrggh!"

She turned back to McKay, "After I heal them, I want those two out of my city."

McKay pleaded with his wife, "Sara, look, it was just an accident. Hewston bumped a panel. She didn't do it intentionally, and Watson didn't do anything at all. I will take full responsibility for what happened."

The Guardian was surprised, "You will?"

"Yeah. I was the one who pushed you to relax the safety protocols. You remember that? In hindsight it was a mistake on my part. I shouldn't have pushed for it."

"Rodney.."

"So if you are going to blame anyone, blame me."

McKay's intercession on their behalf worked. The Guardian's anger began to fade.

"Well.. fine, they can stay."

He held her, "Thank you."

She protested, "Rodney, it's just not fair. I can't stand the fact that our vacation got wrecked again." McKay and the Guardian were supposed to leave tomorrow through the CMM Bridge to go visit Las Vegas for two days.

McKay gently hugged his wife, "Look, I'll go talk to Weir. I'll see if we can get it rescheduled for next week, with an extra day. Sound good?"

"Yeah, okay.."

She looked down, "I'm sorry for acting like such a bitch. It's just that.."

He brought her chin up with his index finger, "Hey, I get it. You're just being very protective of your city and it's people. I understand completely. It's only natural for you. Now, let's go back and get some sleep, okay?"

She smiled, remembering where their shared dream had been interrupted, "Oh, yes. Let's go." They left arm in arm.

Beckett ordered Hewston and Watson to return back to their cots for another scan.

The following morning the Guardian teleported out the tiny tumors, and she continued to do so repeatedly over the next four days.

A couple days later Hewston asked to leave the program and return to Earth. Watson elected to stay. Eventually Hewston resigned and left the SGC.

* * *

The Guardian was onboard the _Odyssey_ , which was orbiting Earth. She entered the bay where Daniel Jackson was being held under guard, his arms and legs clamped with strong steel brackets into a metal chair. A small circular black object with white lights rotating around its circumference was sitting on a table out of Jackson's reach.

{ Hello, Daniel. }

"Hi, Sara. This is a surprise. It looks like Jack is calling in the big guns on me."

{ Sorry, I can't hear you. I'm wearing industrial-grade earplugs right now. Please use the communication conduit. }

{ Oh, okay. Why the earplugs? }

{ I need them to block out the annoying ultrasonic screech coming from that anti-Prior device. } She gestured at the circular black object.

{ I hope it's not messing up your powers? }

{ No, not really. But even with the earplugs it's still giving me a bit of a headache. }

{ Sorry. They're using it to keep me under control. }

{ I know. } She appraised him, noticing his deathly white skin pallor, the raised tattoos on his face, and his misted-over eyes, all signs of a Prior of the Ori. { Daniel, you've looked better. }

{ Merlin says it will clear up after this is over. So I suppose Jack called you in to scan my mind? To see if I'm telling the truth? I thought you said you would not come to the Milky Way to help me stop the Ori. }

{ I'm not. I was intending to start my vacation on Earth today when Jack called in this favor, so now instead of me having fun in Las Vegas I'm stuck up here to check on your story, that you have Merlin inside your head to build his Ascendant Neutralizer to wipe out the Ori from their galaxy. So, is it okay with you? This won't take long. }

Jackson sighed, { Go ahead and dig in. I just can't believe that how after Teal'c and Vala both checked me and believed me that Jack still doesn't trust me. Now he's dragging you in too? I'm really sorry about that. }

The Guardian muttered, { I swear, it's as if a Higher Power is deliberately conspiring to keep me from having a vacation on this world.. }

{ Hmm? }

{ Nevermind. Okay, here we go. }

Jackson's mind suddenly reeled. After a moment of disorientation he found himself standing alone in a flat white glassy surface that stretched off infinitely in all directions underneath a featureless white sky. He looked like his old self with his glasses on.

A female voice said, "Good. Let's do this." Jackson turned toward the sound of the voice and saw the Guardian standing next to him. Her attitude was businesslike, "As I said, this shouldn't take more than a minute."

"Wait, I thought you weren't supposed to be helping me? Not that I don't appreciate the favor.."

"I'm not."

"You're not going to scan me to see if I'm telling the truth?"

"No. Like I said before, it's not allowed."

"Then what are you doing inside my head?"

"I'm not here to scan you.."

A third person was now standing next to both of them.

".. I'm here to scan *him*."

Jackson recognized the old wizard with the long robes and white beard.

"Merlin."

The old man spoke in a quavering voice, "Ah, Galahad. You are so brave to partake in this noble quest." He was still deluded into seeing Daniel as Galahad.

"Uh, hello, Merlin. Yes, I am here."

The elderly wizard turned and saw the Guardian in her flowing white robe and tiara. He bowed deeply, "The Lady of the Lake. You are here as well? I am honored."

The Guardian said benevolently, "Yes, Merlin, I am here also."

She then took a chance, "May I instead call you Moros?"

The old man paused, then he slowly raised up his head and blinked his eyes, "Moros. That name. That name.. It is a name I have not heard for a long time. A very long time."

She gave him a gentle smile, "No, you have not heard that name in thousands of years. It was before you Ascended and came back to Earth in human form."

"Then you are..?"

She approached him closely. "Uncle Moros, do you recognize me? I am 'The Subject'. You remember? Janus had artificially created me as an experiment under your auspices as the leader of the High Council of Atlantis to try to save its citizens from the clutches of the Wraith. You visited me in my creche many times, more than anyone else. Janus watched as we talked together, you and I. We chatted over a dozen times while I was growing up. At first you were skeptical of me and wanted me destroyed, but eventually that little girl had softened you, charmed you with her wide-eyed eagerness to help, calling you 'uncle'."

"Yes.. the child. I remember that little girl.. so precocious, so innocent. The experiment to flee the Wraith.. She was supposed to ascend while we watched, to save us.."

"Yes, uncle. But she failed to ascend. It failed. The experiment was a failure." Daniel Jackson was watching the conversation between the two Ancients with keen interest.

"The child.. failed.. Yes.. It wasn't her fault, I remember now. She was crying, so heartbroken, so inconsolable, tearfully begging us to let her help us in some other way, offering to do anything she could for us instead. She was so pitiful in her pleas that I didn't have the heart to terminate her."

"So instead you let her stay behind, to guard the city."

"Yes. We, we had to. We had to leave her. We couldn't take her," He grew despondent, "We left her behind.. No choice.. She was too dangerous.. We couldn't take her with us.."

Looking at the old man she now understood. She said gently, "I know, uncle. You did what you had to do."

The old man was talking almost to himself now. "Those years were so hard. I tried. I stayed behind too. I stayed on Earth. My duty.."

"Yes, your own people abandoned you. They fled with Janus into the far future and left you behind."

"They did.. I was left with only the barbarians, the brutes. They simply would not listen. I despaired.."

She understood his despair. She had once bitterly cursed them for abandoning her, all of them, for leaving her behind, but she could no longer blame him in her pity. The leader who had marooned her had become forsaken himself.

She realized that he knew exactly what it felt like to be abandoned and left behind.

She sympathetically touched his bowed white leonine head. "You understand now. You could have terminated me but you didn't."

"My child, I am so sorry."

"It's all right. Now that I see you, uncle, I forgive you."

He looked up, "Y-you do?"

"Yes, I do."

He bowed again humbly, "Thank you." He raised his head again, "You have grown wise, my child. Your father would be proud to see what you have become."

"Your kind words honor me, uncle." She added sadly, "You and I are all that remain. We are the last dying embers of a dead race."

The old man smiled gently, "My child, I am already dead. You are alone."

"What..?" The Guardian turned to Daniel Jackson, searching for an explanation.

Jackson spoke up, "Uh, Sara, I am sorry to tell you this but he's gone. Morgan Le Fay was ordered to stop Merlin, so she put him in a stasis chamber and destroyed the device. We waited too long to revive him and he aged. He was near death when we found him. Just before he died he injected this fragment of himself into my head so that I could finish re-building the weapon for him. The fragment will vanish when the mission is over."

"I see," the Guardian sighed, "And here I was all prepared for a big mind-battle with an Ascended being. Oh well." She paused, "Wait, let me check him to make sure," She tilted her head a moment, "He is only grade 7 now. I'm grade 9, the highest level possible for a physical being. I thought he might be grade 10, the highest level for an Ascended being, so I was expecting a big battle and I prepared for it. Right now I'm temporarily at grade 11."

The old man scoffed, "Grade 11 mental powers? There is no such thing."

"Well, there is now."

"No, that's simply impossible."

"Hey, I go up to 11."

Daniel Jackson grinned at the Guardian's inadvertent reference to _Spinal Tap_ , "Sara, how did you manage that?"

She gestured, "Look over there."

A fourth person was now standing on the white plain, a beautiful woman with blond frizzled hair and slashing eyebrows. She leaned in close behind Daniel Jackson and cooed, "Hello, my darling. I missed you."

Jackson yelped and pulled away from the sultry reverberating voice. Turning around, he stuttered in astonishment, "S-Sarah?"

Jackson saw Sarah Gardner standing before him, his old research associate and former lover during his time as a research assistant under Professor Jordan. She was later taken over by a Goa'uld named Osiris, who used her to extract memories from Daniel Jackson from inside his dreams.*4 She was eventually captured by SG-1, and the Osiris symbiont was surgically removed and kept stored in a secure stasis tank in Area 51 until Baal secretly took over the facility from inside his own jail cell and had re-inserted the symbiont into another host to act as his outside agent. Osiris attempted to kidnap the Guardian on an Al'kesh ship under orders from Baal, but she made short work of Osiris, who quickly switched allegiances to her, feeling honored to serve the last living Ancient in the galaxy, a being far more powerful than any Goa'uld.

Jackson yelled at the Guardian, "You put a freaking Goa'uld into my head? Are you nuts?"

The Guardian replied calmly, "Relax, Daniel. Osiris is docile and under my complete control, subservient to me. He's not inside you, he's inside me, to give me a temporary boost whenever I need to jack up my mental and physical powers before fighting a difficult battle." She sighed and looked at the frail old man, who was only a fragment of his former self, "But it looks like I didn't need the extra boost after all."

She turned to the image of Sarah Gardner, "Sorry, little buddy, but you need to go to sleep now. Maybe I'll play with you later, okay?"

The image of Sarah Gardner sighed, "A pity. I was very much looking forward to fighting an epic mental contest alongside you against another Ancient. It would have been glorious. Oh well." Sarah quickly pecked Jackson on the cheek; he flinched. "Tah-tah, Daniel. Bye!" The image of Sarah Gardner disappeared.

The Guardian pulled off her white gloves, "Right. Sorry for the distraction. Now where was I? Oh yes, Merlin." She addressed the fragment, "General O'Neill had asked me to come up here to make sure that you are 'on the level' so to speak. I need to make sure that you are not deceiving Daniel Jackson. Do you mind if I check you? It won't take but a moment."

The old man doddered a bit, then he spread his hands apart, "My great Lady of the Lake, I am your humble servant. You may do with me as you wish." Apparently he had gone back to being Merlin again.

"All right, good. Thank you."

She approached him, "Well, here we go."

* * *

The Guardian was sitting in the main conference room in the SGC with General O'Neill. She had just finished giving her report regarding her scan of Merlin, certifying that he was indeed 'on the level' with no deception on his part. O'Neill was relieved to hear it.

She was disappointed to learn that an alternative plan was already being implemented where SG-1 (sans Jackson) had already left on the captured Al'kesh ship that the Guardian had donated to the SGC from Osiris' kidnapping attempt. They were now en route to the Ori supergate to attempt to implement Daniel Jackson's plan without him.

She frowned and crossed her arms, "Jack, this was a waste of my time. You didn't need me. If SG-1 was going to go off and do the op on their own why did you drag me away from my vacation to check on Merlin?"

O'Neill spread his hands at the table, "Yeah, my bad. While you were busy on the _Odyssey_ with Daniel, Mr. Woolsey informed us that there is no way in hell that the IOA is going sign off on letting Daniel go do the mission, no matter what. Mitchell came up with the alternate plan and they're implementing it now."

The Guardian was grumpy. "Bah. Jack, you are burning up your chits with me."

"I know, I know. Look, I'll send you a fruit basket, okay?"

The Guardian was about to throw back a suitable retort when General Landry and Mr. Woolsey walked in from Landry's office. Landry was visibly upset and Mr. Woolsey looked grim.

The Guardian stood up and glared at Woolsey, "You want to kill him? After all Daniel has done for Earth, for this galaxy. I don't believe this! Why?"

Landry was trying to control himself too, "Well, Mr. Woolsey, you get to explain it to our Guardian. I don't have the stomach for it."

Woolsey removed his eyeglasses and wiped them nervously, "You have to understand, we've considered all the evidence at our disposal..."

"No you haven't. I just scanned Merlin and gave my report. I can guarantee there is no deception on his part. None."

".. nevertheless, as difficult as this is, the IOA feels that there is no other viable option other than..."

O'Neill spoke up, "Wait, you think that Daniel is going to break out of his confinement and escape?"

"Yes, that is a very real possibility. The anti-Prior device cannot hold him indefinitely. After that we have no way to control him. He is simply too dangerous to be allowed to remain in his current state as an Ori Prior."

O'Neill turned to the Guardian, "Sara, you can defeat a Prior, right? Especially now that you Spinal Tapped yourself up to 11?"

"Uh, yes, I think so. Although I might have to knock him out first.."

"So you can supervise Daniel, right? Make sure he doesn't do anything dangerous, at least until he reverts?"

"Jack, chits..."

Woolsey objected, "Wait, I read the classified report from Doctor Weir about the incident in the Atlantis VR room. You were specifically instructed by your, uh, superiors, not to interfere in our dealings with the Ori. You were quoted as saying that yourself."

"Yes, that's true."

"Madam Guardian, with respect, the problem is that Doctor Jackson now has the powers of an Ori Prior. He is one of them now. If you attempt to restrain him you will be in violation of your orders not to interfere."

She glared at Woolsey but said nothing.

O'Neill said gently, "Sara, please, stay calm. We'll fix this."

She growled in a low voice, "So help me if any of you harm Daniel, I will find a way to make you pay.."

"Sara, just settle down. Nothing is going to happen to Daniel. I promise."

She suddenly froze for a moment as if she was listening to something, then she made a thin-lipped smile.

She quietly sat back down in her seat. She looked oddly relaxed. "Thank you, Jack."

O'Neill caught her change in demeanor. "Sara, what's going on?"

There was a flash of light and O'Neill disappeared.

The Guardian ignored the General's sudden disappearance. Meanwhile, Landry and Woolsey stared at the empty spot where General O'Neill was just standing.

The phone rang and Landry picked it up. He listened, then he hung up, "The entire crew of the _Odyssey_ was just beamed down to the parking lot outside of the SGC. NORAD reports that the ship is preparing to leave orbit."

Woolsey was aghast, "It's Jackson. He defeated the anti-Prior device. He's hijacking the _Odyssey_!"

"Looks like it."

Woolsey rushed up to the Guardian, "We need that ship! You have to stop him!"

The Guardian remained placidly seated as she pulled off a white glove and idly inspected her fingernails. "I would like to help you, Mr. Woolsey, but I am afraid that I cannot interfere. It's in the rules, you said so yourself. So sorry."

"But he's stealing our ship! What if he's trying to stop SG-1? Give the device to the Ori? They could use it in the Milky Way on the ascended Ancients. He could wipe out your entire ascended race!"

The Guardian considered it. "Hmm, no. Daniel beamed up O'Neill to go with him. I think he did it to send a message to us that he's still on our side."

"But.."

She stood up and pulled out her teleport beacon. She sighed, "I guess I can't use this now."

Landry looked on bemusedly, "Hmm?"

"I was supposed to meet up with Rodney at our hotel room in the Mirage on the Strip."

"That sounds nice. I think you are overdue for a nice vacation."

"Oh you have no idea." She turned to leave, then she stopped.

"Uh, sir, how do I get there?"

Landry and Woolsey looked at each other. Even the knowledge of her existence was a highly classified secret, above even Top Secret. She would need a ride to Peterson AFB, board a requisitioned private jet, get another ride from McCarron Airport into the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, all using only people with ultra-high SGC-level security clearances. Plus her clothes..

She snapped her fingers. "Ah, I got an idea. I'll just borrow the puddle jumper that I loaned you guys. It's still here on the base, right?"

"Uh, yes.."

"Oh don't worry, it cloaks. I know where it is. Bye!"

She got up and left the room before Landry could say anything to stop her.

He scrambled to grab his phone.

"Walter!"

* * *

"Kit, are you serious? You landed a jumper on the roof of the Mirage?"

"Oh don't worry about it. It's cloaked. I parked it on top of a ventilation tower. I saw lots of dust up there, and you need to climb a maintenance ladder to get to it. Nobody's been up there in ages. It'll be fine."

"Okay.. Wait, what about that snake in your head?"

"I already teleported Osiris back into his stasis tank in the rear of the jumper."

"That's good - I don't do double dates."

She pulled his arm, "Rodney, let's go! I want to see!"

"Uh, shouldn't you change your outfit first? Put on your sundress maybe?"

"No, it's getting dark. Too windy and chilly. Besides, I don't have to change."

"Huh? Why not?"

* * *

Foot traffic was heavy. At first McKay was afraid that the Guardian would be overwhelmed by it all: the noise, the huge lit signs, the crowds, and the vehicular traffic, but she was eagerly drinking it all in, her eyes bright with excitement.

The Guardian was wearing her regular robed outfit and tiara. Others gave her little more than a mere passing glance as she and McKay walked past several Elvises, Darth Vaders, Elsas, Wonder Women, and Michael Jacksons.

While waiting at a crosswalk for the light to turn green, a trio of girls wearing pirate costumes asked her if she had made her Galadriel costume herself. The Guardian explained that her father had made it for her, which caused the pirate trio to giggle as they walked away.

McKay grinned at her as they walked along, "Sara, heh, you really fit in here." They paused to watch a street magician who was busy levitating a playing card above his palm, then they walked on.

The Guardian smiled back, "I do feel at home here. It feels very comfortable to me. The people, the architecture, everything. I love this place."

"What do you think about the buildings?"

"This place looks not entirely unlike a busy Lantean trading outpost. Look over there at the Luxor, with its tall sleek glass angles of darkened crystal and the adjacent towers made with the same material; it looks very Lantean. Next door is the castle of Excalibur and next to that are the Manhattan style towers of New York, New York. Further up the Strip is the palatial Bellagio, which is right next door to Caesar's Palace and its Greco-Roman statues and colonnades. The juxtaposition of different architectures was a very common sight at many Lantean trading outposts during our era, where we Lanteans interacted with humans to trade goods and do commerce with them in order to acquire foodstuffs, raw materials, and other items. Later, after our people had abandoned the outposts, the humans would build their own more primitive structures right next door to the abandoned towers. An outpost would typically have buildings constructed using different architectures from civilization levels 2, 3, and 4 all pressed together side-by-side just like this place."

"I see. And the people?"

"The same. With gate travel you commonly see people from all over the galaxy mixing together in trade and commerce, all wearing a huge assortment of varied clothing styles just like you see here.." A Spongebob Squarepants walked by, ".. well, uh, perhaps not so many non-humanoids..."

He laughed.

She held his arm and sighed, "I really do love this place. Rodney, I can easily see us living here."

"Well, if we end up at Area 51 we probably will. Most of the civilian staff who work at Groom Lake Air Force Base fly in from Vegas daily on special unmarked Boeing 737 jets from McCarron Airport. The flight is only 30 minutes. I wouldn't want to live directly on the Strip though."

"Oh, I agree. Too much bustle."

"Back when I ran Section 5 they gave me a small condo a few blocks off the Strip. I rarely used it though. Instead I typically crashed overnight in one of the small one-room quarters that they had on the base."

The Guardian was not sure if she liked living in such confined quarters, and she doubted they could be shared. "Do they allow children to live on the base?"

"Uh, no. We'd have to live off base for that - probably need to rent a house.."

".. with a kitchen that includes a dinette area, a living room, a work den, two bedrooms, and a fenced-in backyard." She was describing Samantha Carter's modest home from memory.

McKay was surprised, "Uh, yeah, something like that."

She sighed, "Yes, this place is perfect."

"Wait, how do you know so much about house layouts?"

"Rodney, I am very observant."

"Yes, my dear, you certainly are. Speaking of being observant, how about we go check out a casino together?"

"Okay!"

* * *

The Guardian was wandering through the main floor of the MGM Grand's casino with McKay. She inspected the various slot machines, poker machines, blackjack machines, and other electronic games, then McKay led her over to the gaming tables. They finally stopped together at a roulette table.

"What do you think?"

She bent over to inspect the green felt betting area, then she inspected the wheel. It was a slow night and the table was mostly empty.

"Hmm, this game has rather inferior odds compared to the other games in here."

"Yeah, the house has a pretty good edge in roulette. The green 0 and the green 00 never win on any bet except a direct hit, with the remaining numbers from 1 to 36 paying off with even/odd, red/black, and other combos."

The Guardian pointed at the bet payouts, "A direct hit on 1 to 36 pays only 35 to 1, which isn't a fair payout even without the green 0 and 00."

"Yeah. The house advantage is 5.26 percent. It sucks."

"So why are we looking at it?"

{ I was wondering if you'd like to try a scientific experiment with me. } He purchased $100 worth of chips from the dealer.

{ Hmm? }

{ Do you think you can use your TK power to nudge the ball to land on a particular number? }

She whirled and faced him, { No. Absolutely not! }

{ Aw, c'mon, Kit. It's only for a few bets. Just to buy us a nice lobster dinner tonight. You've never eaten lobster before. I bet you'd like it.. }

{ I'm sure I'd love to eat lobster, but Daniel Jackson warned me about this. It would be cheating. It's unethical. }

{ Kit, you cheat all the time.}

{ That's different. Against the Wraith, yes. To protect my city, yes. To protect my people, yes. To fight the the enemy, oh yes. I will cheat. I will fight absolutely dirty if I must - to protect the people I love. Just like John Sheppard would do. He says there is no honor in wartime, only victory and defeat, life and death. But this? Here? These are just games. It would be stealing. }

{ Sheesh, Kit, sometimes you are no fun at all. }

{ Well, let's look around some more. Maybe I can find a game where we can win by playing fair. }

McKay guffawed, "Good luck finding that in a Vegas casino!"

She frowned at him, so McKay decided to humor her. "Okay, sure, let's wander around a bit, see if your lovely genius brain can figure out something. I'm not gonna hold my breath, though."

They wandered together, and eventually the Guardian decided to sit down at a Multi-King game machine. It offered several variations on draw poker: Jacks or Better, Double Bonus, and Double Double Bonus. She was already familiar with poker hands and their probabilities from playing with Cadman's posse.

McKay bent over and looked at the payout chart on the screen for the Jacks or Better game. "Hmm, 9/6. Optimal."

"9/6?"

"That means it pays nine coins for a full house and six coins for a flush. With perfect play you can get a 99.5% payback rate. You can play for hours on a machine like this before your bankroll runs out."

He added, "Good job, Sara. Right off the bat you found just about best the payback ratio that you're ever gonna get in a Vegas casino."

The Guardian smiled at him proudly, then she turned back intending to try a few hands. She stared, "Wait.. look at that!" She pointed at the screen.

Rodney leaned over, "Huh, it just changed to 8/5. Must be because it's after the dinner hour."

"The payout odds changed right in front of us!"

"Well yeah. They only offer 9/6 when the casino traffic is light."

"I don't get it."

"Sara, we are sitting in a Las Vegas casino, one of the world's best and most scientifically designed places to expertly separate you from your money. They literally have it down to a science on how they do it here. Look, all these machines are connected to a central server complex located deep underground in the center of the Strip, and the casinos are all interconnected that way, with almost all of the casinos on the Strip owned by just two companies: MGM Resorts and Caesar's Entertainment. The central servers monitor gambling activity across all the casinos simultaneously, isolating bet placements, looking for types of activity, patterns. If traffic goes down the payout level automatically goes up to attract more players. If traffic goes up the payouts go down. Right now it is just past the dinner hour so the payouts will be dropping. You just saw it happen."

"That feels like cheating to me."

"No, once you start playing the payout level will lock in until you walk away. It's a pity you didn't start playing that 9/6 when you had a chance."

"I'm sorry.."

"Eh, Jacks or Better is boring anyway. There's hardly any action. The only big hit is the Royal Flush."

"Hmm. At odds of 649,740 to 1."

"For a straight deal and the draw improves it a lot, but it's still rare enough that you can play for days and never hit it. That's why the casinos added Double Bonus poker and Double Double Bonus poker."

The Guardian switched the Multi-King machine to Double Bonus. "I see. You get lower payouts for the standard hands but bigger payouts for new combos: four 2s, four 3s, four 4s, and 4 aces. The royal flush only pays 800 coins."

"And Double Double Bonus includes kickers that provide even more combos. What happens is that the 'action' becomes more volatile. With regular Jacks or Better your bankroll just slowly dribbles downward, with an occasional blip on say, a full house. With DB and DDB your bankroll slides up and down with way more volatility, making it a lot more exciting to play."

"But doesn't that mean that, statistically, you are more likely to use up your bankroll more quickly on a bad run of bets?"

"Yep. The casino wins again."

"Hmm. What about table blackjack? Hey, I got an idea. What if we tracked the ratio of the remaining face cards versus non face cards..?"

"Good try, but sorry. The casinos use a shoe containing several decks of cards so you can't do card-counting anymore."

"Oh well. Hmm. The slot machines look pretty unbeatable too."

"Yeah. The progressive slots are a sucker's bet."

"So what method of betting do you want to try?"

"Eh, I'll do a Martingale on the roulette table. It'll be okay just for a few tries, then we'll get dinner off of it."

"What is Martingale?"

"You bet even/odd or red/black, doubling the bet on each spin until you win and stop."

"Hmm. That gives you a low positive rate of return at the small risk of a catastrophic loss."

"Yeah, it's still a bad system in the long run. Casinos love idiots who play Martingale. Eventually they always get screwed. We're just gonna do it until we have enough for dinner then stop."

"Rodney, everything I have seen here in this room is telling me that casino gambling is only for fools, a guaranteed loss for every player, at least in the long run."

"Yeah, it is."

"Then why are so many people coming in here to play?"

"Well the smart ones are people like you, those who realize that gambling is simply a form of entertainment, nothing more. They set a bankroll limit fully expecting to lose it all. When they do they are done. Simple. That's the best attitude in my opinion. Others become hooked on the endorphin high of winning, the emotional rush. So they keep playing trying to regain that big emotional high, that big win, again and again."

"Rodney, that is addictive behavior."

"That's why you see stickers for Gambler's Anonymous all over the place."

"Who else plays?"

"Well, the rich whales play to socialize with other high rollers - a form of schmoozing among the elite. Others do it to get women or get comps. It's a status thing, a prestige thing. Not that I'd know anything about that.."

"This is such a strange world.."

"You thirsty?"

"Yeah."

"I'll go find a cocktail waitress and be right back."

The Guardian decided to do some people watching as she sat by herself at the end of a row of unattended slot machines.

A minute later a young thin man wearing jeans, cowboy boots, a bolo tie, and a country-music cowboy hat sat down right next to her. He did so despite the fact there were plenty of other open machines that were not so close.

He inserted his gaming card and started pulling the handle on the slot machine, drinking a beer. He glanced over furtively at the Guardian a few times.

He finally said to her in a Texas drawl, "Hey, that's a mighty fine costume y'all got there. Can I ask where it's from?"

She looked at him for a moment.

"It was made a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away."

"Huh. I don't recognize the Star Wars character. I betcha it's from the Extended Universe, right?"

"Yes, from a very extended universe."

He chortled, "It looks really nice. You come here often?"

"I have never been inside a casino before."

"Really? Well, I guess you look young enough that I'm not very surprised."

At that point McKay came back with two non-alcoholic cocktails. "Hey, back off, buddy. That's my wife you're talking to."

The main stood up. His accent switched from Texan to Australian. "Sorry mate. I didn't see a ring." He got up and left.

McKay quickly sat in the newly empty seat. "Was he bugging you?"

"No, not really."

"Well you shouldn't let guys like that hit on you."

"Rodney, it was only because he didn't see my ring. He said so."

"That's because it's underneath your glove."

She pulled off her glove and inspected the metal band on the third finger of her left hand. She didn't care that it was merely a stainless steel joint sleeve for a metal pipe fitting - to her it was the most precious piece of jewelry that she would ever own, never to be removed as long as she lived. "If I wear my ring over my glove then the enemy will see it whenever I activate my thermo-optic camouflage."

"So don't worry about it then." He snuggled over, "Your valiant knight in shining armor will always protect you."

She smiled, "Yes," and kissed him.

"Hungry?"

"I'm starving."

"Let's go!"

* * *

She was still standing in awe, staring at all the stations of the MGM Grand's buffet, gripping her husband's arm tightly. "Rodney..."

"Yes, my dear?"

"Am I dreaming?" She continued to boggle at the incredible variety of stations for breads, pastas, meats, poultry, seafood, salads, desserts (incredible by themselves), Asian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese (with fresh sushi)...

"No, this is real."

"I.. I.. oh my word.."

"Hey, it's all you can eat. Go for it."

"I think I'm going to die happy."

* * *

They were in bed together in their suite in the Mirage, their sweat drying as they laid together side-by-side on top of the sheets. He had never seen his wife so blissfully content.

He had let her do it her way again, even though it was technically his turn. He gazed up at the  
ceiling as he absently touched the spots on his neck where she had nibbled it gently with her teeth, giving him tender love bites just like like a playful _alba tigress_ would do with its mate, knawing playfully while leaving no marks.

He turned and saw her inspecting the wedding ring on her gloveless left hand, rotating it on her finger with her other hand.

She spoke aloud, verbalizing her thoughts about their future life together. "If we have to evacuate the city, I'll set the self destruct timer and dive through the gate last. After we reach Earth you can go work at Area 51, and we can both live here."

That was unusual. Normally she would only communicate her private thoughts and feelings to him telepathically.

She was more relaxed than he had ever seen her before. She continued to verbalize her thoughts aloud, "We'll get a small house and raise our children there. Rodney, I want to raise them myself. I will school them, teach them what they need to know, about both human and Lantean culture."

"Really? You want to home-school our kids? Kit, that is going to take a lot of work. Remember, any kid of ours is going to be an uber-genius."

"Without an Instruction Machine it will be much work for me, yes. But it will be worth it. Those machines are full of lies and propaganda. I will teach our children our true history, both the good parts and the bad parts."

"That's really noble of you, Kit. I mean it."

Silence.

"Rodney, will I need to get a job?"

"Only if you want to. You can work with me in Section 5 if you want. You'd be a huge asset. Or you can stay with the kids, anything you want. I think the main requirement will be that they will want you on-call to go to Area 51 and pilot the defense Chair whenever the long range scans detect incoming ships. Hopefully, you'll have a couple days warning on that. Otherwise it's up to you."

She remained thoughtful. "I think part of that will depend on our child."

"Hmm?"

"Rodney, I'm worried. What if our son inherits my abilities? My powers? My TK ability first manifested at the biological age of 6, which was younger than any other pre-Ascendant Lantean ever recorded. What if our son starts floating the automobiles parked on our street when he's 6?"

"Whoa. Didn't think of that. Wow, he'd be just like Superman when he grew up." McKay remembered the 1978 film starring Christopher Reeves, where a child actor was shown in one scene lifting up a truck on two wheels. "As a boy Superman lived on a remote farm pretty far away from everyone, so I'm sure nobody noticed his powers except Mr. and Mrs. Kent."

"If our child manifests his powers that young, then I'll need to stay home in order to raise him very closely. I'll need to make sure he learns control at a young age. Teach him restraint."

"Yeah. Hoo boy."

McKay thought of something else, "Wait, what about your energy storage biopacks? Aren't those necessary to support your powers?"

"They are, but I am pretty sure that my biopacks are organic, part of my DNA blueprint. If our child inherits my powers I expect that he will likely also have his own biopacks too."

"Man, that kid is going to have a hearty appetite."

She smiled, "Yes. However, I think that the setpoint for his resting metabolism rate will be lower than mine - somewhere between mine and yours - so he won't crave calories as much as I do."

"Well, that would certainly help on the grocery bills."

"There's another thing.."

"Yeah?"

"Rodney, I don't age."

"Hey, I said I'm cool with that, remember? We both agreed it's okay if I get old and you don't. That was part of the deal."

"But what if our son doesn't age either?"

"Wow, lemmie think. Hmm, in that case we'd be effectively raising a new race of immortals. It would be like the movie _Highlander_ except without the, you know, the killing-each-other-off part. Wow.. I gotta think about this."

"Do you think this world will be ready to accept that? A new race of immortal beings in their midst?"

"No, probably not. At least not yet anyway. We'd have to hide it. You look age 20 forever, so I'm guessing our kid would stay locked at around age 20 too. When they hit their 30s they'd have to move away to avoid suspicion and assume a new identify. You might also need to do that at some point."

"Yes. At some point we can move away and I can get a new identity as your live-in daughter. Then later I can become your live-in granddaughter. I'll try to prepare our children for that too when it becomes necessary."

"Okay."

She imagined it. "I will end up watching you grow old.. see you become stooped over, watch you slowly fade, then finally die.."

"Look, we knew that going in."

"I know. I promise I will be ready when the time comes."

Another thought hit her. "What if our child ages like you? I would be burying my own child, then burying my grandchildren.."

"Let's not think about that right now."

She thought of something else, "Rodney, time can pass very quickly for a Lantean like me. Right now subjective time is passing slowly for me because of the Wraith war, because of everything that is happening, the battle for the city. But if I live on Earth.."

".. things could get pretty boring for you. You said those eight years with Sheppard on P49-M87 passed by in a flash for you."

"They did. To me it felt like a few subjective months, not years. It's possible that at some point your hair could turn white seemingly overnight to me."

He stroked her own hair. "Well, we better make sure that doesn't happen then, right? We keep things interesting for you. Exciting. Fun."

"Okay."

"New rule: You are not allowed to get bored. I promise to keep everything fun for you like I do now. Hey, I'm always a fun guy, right?"

"Yes you are, my love. There hasn't been a single boring day for me during the whole time I've been with you."

"Well there you go. Don't worry about it."

They stopped talking. She turned to look up at the ceiling again, lost in thought. The honking noise from the heavy vehicular traffic on the Strip could be heard faintly outside the gold-tinted windows.

The Guardian closed her eyes and imagined what her son might look like.

She expected that he would have mostly McKay's features. But what if he had her eyes? They were her most striking feature. Close up, those amazingly intense gold-flecked blue orbs looked otherworldly. Alien even. It might cause a problem..

In her post-coital bliss her mind continued to wander freely as she imagined what her son might be like.

What about his personality? Would he acquire McKay's caustic personality or would he have her more gentle one? No doubt he would be a genius just like both of his parents.

She continued to let her imagination run. Eventually McKay would die, and this might be the only way for her to retain a part of him other than his memory. The child would be left behind to remember him by, a form of immortality. Possibly literally so, if her child didn't age..

Then she suddenly felt it: A pop, the bursting of a follicle in her left ovary.

She bolted upright in bed.

 _I didn't. I didn't. I didn't!_

McKay saw the look on her face and sat up too.

"Kit, what's wrong?"

She whispered, "Oops."

"Oops? What do you mean oops? What oops?"

She mouthed it again, staring straight ahead.

"C'mon, what is it?"

She switched over to silent mode. { Meredith, I screwed up. I always screw up.. }

"Screwed up what?"

{ Uh, remember our first night together? }

"Yeah?"

{ Remember when you were worried about us not having any protection? }

"Yeah?"

{ And remember when I told you that as a pre-Ascendant being I can only get pregnant when I want to? }

"Yeah?"

{ I maybe, I sort of, well, uh, wanted to. Just now. }

He said a flat, "What."

"As a pre-Ascendant I have psychosomatic control over my body, including the nominally autonomous systems like ovulation. I was daydreaming and I think I just released an ovum, an egg. I'm sorry.."

"Kit?"

"I'm sorry! I was thinking about our future child, imagining what he might look like, and it just sort of, well, it happened.."

He whispered in shock, "You mean we're going to have a baby?"

"Maybe? I don't know! It will take six to twelve hours for the ovum to get fertilized, or it might not.."

"W-will it?"

"I said I don't know! Look, no pre-Ascendant has ever conceived that I know of. There's no history of it. It's because when a person reaches the pre-Ascendant state they either Ascend or die within a few days. This has never happened before!"

"What about on P49-M87?"

"Oh. Uh.. I didn't think of that. Let me think. When I was stuck on P49-M87 no children were ever born there. Avrid told me that in all the uncounted years they were in that sanctuary there never were any."

"Okay, so maybe it's a case of good news bad news then. The good news: We're not going to upset Weir and everybody else on the base by jumping the gun and starting a family way too early, ahead of everybody else. The bad news: We'll never have kids."

She fell back to the bed crying. "Rodney, I'm so sorry. I messed up.. No matter what happens I messed up. Either too soon or never. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.." She kept crying.

"Kit, stop it. Look at me. Look at my face." He gently pulled her head towards his own. "I love you. No matter what happens I love you. If we jumped the gun we'll deal with it. If we can't have kids we'll deal with that too. You warned me about that possibility on day one, remember? It'll be okay. So no matter what happens, I love you, and I'm going keep on loving you, now and forever."

She clutched him, { Oh Meredith, I'm so sorry. }

He gently pulled her head onto his bare shoulder, her tears staining it. "Shush."

Eventually she finally stopped crying, still clutching him tightly just like she did as the orphaned village girl in the shared dream..

.. and he held her like that in silence for a long, long time.

* * *

The next day McKay and the Guardian were back on Atlantis, having ended their vacation early. They had both finished dressing for the day's activities. It was decided by unspoken mutual consent that they would carry on with their lives as if nothing happened. McKay kissed her and left for his lab.

The Guardian tarried behind, pausing to inspect herself in the mirror.

She continued to watch the mirror as she gently touched her lower midsection with both of her gloved hands, her torso protected by the thin white inner garment.

Then it happened.

She fell to her knees, bending forward as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

She felt it, the newly created zygote. Using her powers she knew that it was a boy.

She stood and stared at herself. Until recently she had never in her wildest dreams had imagined that this could ever possibly happen.

But it did.

The Guardian was now pregnant.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* In Season 4 Episode 17, "Midway", Ronon and Teal'c were required to wait 24 hours at Midway Station for a medical quarantine. Genie had helpfully provided the station with an advanced Lantean bio-scanner that obviated the need for the quarantine.

** See the bios for Harriet Hewston and James Watson at stargate dot fandom dot com.

*** See Season 2 Episode 13, "Hot Zone"

*4 See SG-1 Season 4 Episode 13, "The Curse"


	26. Chapter 26: The Wizard of Oz

**Chapter 26: The Wizard of Oz**

The days passed. The Guardian and Rodney decided to keep the news of the blessed event a secret from everyone, at least for the time being.

They knew that Weir would eventually need to be told. When that happened they would collectively decide what steps to take next, but until then they would wait.

And so life on Atlantis went on.

* * *

Ronon stoked the campfire. The sun had already set. Lorne and the rest of his men sat and watched the fire in silence as they quietly ate their MREs, their backs turned in unison against the darkening coldness of the surrounding woods.

AR-2's mission to P61-K90 was not one that they would normally take. After all, AR-2 was a recon team and this was a diplomatic mission.

But it was an unusual one. The Tulkans were a level 0 society, hunter-gatherers. They were raiding the farming villages that were near the gate. The villagers had contacted the Athosians through the gate to ask for help and they in turn had contacted Teyla.

Teyla's diplomatic meeting that day with the Tulkans did not go well. She was unable to persuade the Tulkans to end their raids despite her best efforts, which included an offer to teach them how to grow their own food, plus her guarantee that the nearby villagers would not seek retribution for the attacks. The latter took considerable diplomatic effort on her part with the farming villages (including a promise of some magic seeds). But still, the Tulkans refused all of Teyla's entreaties and she was unable to persuade them.

Ronon had shaken his head. "You're gonna need to call in the Boss for this one."

Teyla sighed, "I was hoping not to go that far."

"I don't think we have a choice."

"There might be violence."

"Well, this is definitely gonna get bloody if we don't."

Teyla was resigned, "Very well. Let's go to the gate and send the message."

And so the Guardian was called in, and she quickly and summarily ended the dispute using her own rather unique form of 'diplomacy'.

It was now evening. Instead of returning to the gate the Guardian had walked off into the darkening woods with Teyla. AR-2 decided to wait until the pair had finished whatever it was they were doing off in the woods together.

Lorne idly poked the campfire. It was getting cold and late. He turned and asked Ronan, "Where are they going?"

The gruff Satedan was standing away from the campfire. He was gazing intently into the woods in the direction of where Teyla and the Guardian had gone. He seemed to be listening.

He made a self-satisfied grin and turned back to Lorne, "C'mon. You don't wanna miss this."

Lorne couldn't hear anything. He stood up. "Miss what?"

"Something special."

"Special? What do you mean?"

"You don't have to come if you don't want to." Ronon trod into the wooden darkness and disappeared.

Lorne shrugged and followed him with his P90 lamp turned on, ordering the rest of his men to stay behind.

* * *

Lorne finally caught up with Ronan at the edge of the clearing. Ahead of them he saw the backs of the Guardian and Teyla as they stood at the edge of a sharp overlook facing the final reddening darkness of the setting sun.

He whispered to Ronan, "What's going on?"

"Quiet. Watch."

The two woman stood at the edge of the precipice. Together they had raised their arms and were singing the Song of Sadness to the final embers of the dying sun.

Lorne was transfixed. It was a modal dirge, haunting, ethereal, timeless, a duet that had been not sung between an Ancient and an Athosian in well over 10,000 years, not since the siege of Emege during its darkest hours.

He stood with quiet respect as he listened to the strange and exotic melody that seemed utterly foreign to him.

He leaned over to Ronan, "What are they singing?"

"An elegy for the dead."*

Lorne shook his head in wonder. "She's from another time, another era, another place.. I keep forgetting that she's an alien."

Ronon turned and looked at him, "No. She's not an alien."

"Hmm?"

Ronon turned back to watch the song, "She's one of us. This is our galaxy, not yours."

Lorne understood. The humans from Earth were sojourners in this foreign place.

They were the aliens. Not her.

This was their home.

* * *

A few days later Rodney and the Guardian were standing together on the balcony of their private suite in the North Tower. The balcony faced east, and they were watching the evening darkness grow with the setting sun unseen behind them. On the far horizon they could see a pair of moons starting to rise over the ocean, their silvery bands lengthening across the open water.

The pair continued to hold the railing banister side-by-side in silence as they watched the two silvery orbs transcend the horizon, their shining arcs slowly growing in size as they rose over the water's edge. Minutes passed.

McKay finally said without turning, "Kit, you know, I've been thinking.."

She completed his thought, { .. we need to choose a name for him. }

He smiled as she read her thoughts through their mental Bond. "Yeah."

{ Our son belongs to two worlds. }

"So he needs two names, a human name .. "

{ .. and a Lantean one. }

McKay turned. "David."

"David?"

"Yeah. My grandfather's name."**

She considered it, { Hmm. In your ancient writings David was a king was he not? }

"Huh? He was? I didn't know that. It's not why I picked it. It's just that, uh, I thought that, maybe, well, it's a good name. A good McKay family name, I mean. So I kinda thought that maybe.. }

She put her finger to his lips to silence his dissembling. { Shush, my love. I think David is a very good name. }

He smiled.

More time passed as they watched the pair of moonrises together.

He finally turned and said, "Well?"

{ Well what? }

"C'mon, I know you already thought of a name. A Lantean one."

{ Hmm? }

"Don't you 'hmm' me, Kit, I know you. I know that you darn well already have a name all carefully picked out. C'mon, let's hear it."

{ Hear it? Meredith, a Lantean private name must never be spoken out loud. }

"I know that. So just tell me already."

There was a pause.

Finally she shared it with him.

{ Ursacatulochorislaeta. }

McKay blinked his eyes, "What?"

{ It means Joyful Dancing Bear Cub.*** }

"Are you serious? I'll never remember that!"

{ Meredith, such names are very important to us. My True Name is Feletigrisalireabassara, the White Jumping Tiger Kitten. Lantean names are private and descriptive, revealing our inner selves.. }

{ Okay, okay, I get it. Fine. But look, I'm gonna have to use a shorthand that I can remember. Hmm, how about Ursa? You know, like the Big Dipper constellation?*4 I suck at remembering names but I can remember that much. }

She smiled. He returned it.

 _David. Ursa. Good names._

Their thoughts were transmitted to each other simultaneously. That had never happened before.

McKay sensed her surprise at the unexpected double-thought leak.

She marvelled, { That.. that was strange. The Bond must be causing our minds to somehow synchronize..? }

He approached her from behind and held her. { I know of a Bond that is even stronger. }

{ Meredith..? }

"It's this." He lovingly touched her belly.

She understood. She leaned her back on him, closing her eyes.

They remained that way in silence.

And then something happened. Another double thought-leak.

Simultaneous.

Timeless.

 _I love you._

* * *

The Guardian was in the infirmary seated at a workbench next to Carson Beckett. Their attention was focused the display screen of an open Dell notebook computer where together they were intently watching a pixelated image of a single copy of Beckett's retrovirus.

The virion was attempting to infect a Wraith cell. The pair watched with rapt fascination as the tiny hunter approached its prey.

On a table nearby was a glass cube container with biohazard warning stickers slapped all over it. Inside the well-protected container was an inverted cone-shaped object, a neutrino-scanning microscope of Lantean design. Its glowing apex was focused on a small petri dish containing a number of viable Wraith cells. A small circular detector plate was attached to the underside of the dish that could 'read' the hidden state bits of the tau neutrinos as they passed through the detector.

The neutrinos themselves were not intercepted by the detector of course. The elusive particles effortlessly passed through the detector, the cube, the floor, the city, the ocean, and the planet itself as if they weren't there. A neutrino was unstoppable. The purpose of the detector was to pick up the hidden 'state' bits from the neutrinos as they passed by. Neutrino acted like little data collectors, picking up information on everything that they passed through.

The Lantean detector was directly connected to the city's mainframe computer, which was furiously computing the maddeningly complicated 11-dimensional Fourier transforms in order to convert the hidden state information into a visual approximation of the contents of the petri dish at the angstrom level.

The Guardian and Beckett watched with fascination as the virion attached itself to the cell wall, its capsid proteins unfolding like tentacles as it reached out to bind to the cell wall so that it could inject it's RNA payload via endocytosis into the cell body. The RNA payload would then migrate to the cell's nucleus and capture it, rewriting part of its DNA to shut down certain expressive genomes, removing from the Wraith host its ability to feed on humans and essentially turn the Wraith host into a facsimile of a mere human - powerless.

But then as they watched something happened. Several tiny spiky spheres approached the virion while it was busy drilling into the cell. The spiky balls attached themselves to the outer shell of the virion. A few seconds later the virion ruptured and died. The spheres detached themselves from the corpse and moved away to find another target while the Wraith cell remained unmolested.

Beckett sighed, "Another failure."

The Guardian pushed her chair back, "Those antibodies.."

"We have to somehow engineer a surface antigen that can resist their attempts at binding to the virion's protein sheath. Any ideas?"

"No, I'm stumped."

At that moment Elizabeth Weir walked in to the infirmary. She spotted the pair and approached. "Hi. I was heading to the mess hall so I thought I'd drop in and check on you two. How's it going?"

The Guardian shook head, "No progress."

Beckett folded his arms, "The Wraith immune system, it's just too strong."

The Guardian sounded defeated, "The Wraith's strong resistance to both bacteriological and viral organisms is part of their bio-engineered design, to be essentially physically immortal and resist all known pathogens."

The Guardian still found it difficult to believe Todd's claim that the Wraith were an accidental byproduct of a secret Lantean experiment made 900 years ago in an attempt to achieve physical immortality by splicing in RNA segments from an Iratus bug into a human host. The experiment had backfired and created the Wraith instead.*5

The Guardian sighed, "I am sorry that I have not been of much help to you, Doctor."

Beckett turned, "Now that's nae true, lass. You've been very helpful to me. That quantum microscope gadget of yers, the resolution, it's simply amazing."

The Guardian made a small smile, "Thank you, Doctor. However, beyond that I'm afraid I haven't contributed much. Frankly, you know far more about advanced genetic bio-engineering than I do."

Beckett was self-deprecating, "Acht, not really. All I'm doing is lifting the Lantean research from yer databases and using yer fancy gizmos."

"Still, I think you have real skill. Your results so far have been quite remarkable."

"Eh, it's nothin." He shrugged, "Besides, it's all probably just academic now anyway, what with the Wraith all having up and disappeared."

Weir said, "Perhaps. But please keep working on it, just in case."

"Oh I will."

* * *

 _Two weeks later. Earth, Geneva._

Elizabeth Weir was seated in an uncomfortable chair in the hearing room. She was testifying before the International Oversight Advisory (IOA) committee. Her chair was deliberately set too low for her, causing her to lean forward a bit. Stacked in front of her were binders containing several highly classified documents.

Looming above her were the five members of the IOA sitting in luxurious high-backed chairs. They were seated behind a long and elegantly carved mahogany podium, which was fashioned not unlike the court bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. Other architectural aspects of that exalted temple of justice were also present, including a high vaulted ceiling above polished granite walls that were propped up by a colonnade of tall greek columns made of sienna marble. The flags of member nations of the IOA were draped on flagpoles set between them. A taller sixth flagpole stood proudly behind the ornate bench with the black letters **IOA** stenciled inside a white disc on a red velvet background. In the rear of the chamber a large Roman-style water fountain could be seen, with cool streams of water pouring from vases held by four marble muses into a shimmering pool.

The IOA members sat together behind the long podium and looked down on the Director of the Atlantis Expedition with their stoic faces. They were Mr. Richard Woolsey of the United States, General Leonid Chekov of the Russian Federation, Doctor Shen Xiaoyi of People's Republic of China, Monsieur Jean LaPierre of France, and Mr. Russel Chapman of the United Kingdom.

The five members continued to look down impassively on the Director of the Atlantis Expedition as they continued to listen to Doctor Weir speak:

".. and despite the difficulty of our situation on Atlantis with the many security threats that we have faced since our arrival, my team has managed to make some remarkable progress in our research of Ancient technology. We have made several exciting discoveries that I believe will enhance the security and well-being of Earth for decades to come. You will find detailed descriptions of the most significant technologies that we have researched in the appendices of my report. I again want to thank the Committee for their support of our Expedition and look forward to continuing our research in the fiscal next year." Weir closed her briefing folder and looked up complacently at her superiors.

A woman with Asian features seated in the central chair spoke, "Thank you for your statement, Doctor Weir. You have done your duty well."

Shen Xiaoyi then clasped her hands together on the long podium, "However, there is one aspect in your statement to this body regarding your situation on Atlantis that no longer is applicable."

"Which is?"

"Your security situation. Based on what we read in your report, there are currently no ongoing threats to the Atlantis Expedition remaining in the Pegasus Galaxy."

Wear leaned forward on her small chair, "Ma'am, with all due respect, those threats have not been eliminated. We still do not know what has happened to the Wraith. The Genii are still belligerent antagonists, and the Replicators are still a potential threat..."

"There has been no Wraith activity for over two months now, correct?"

"Yes, but.."

"And no other active threats?"

"Not at the moment, but our security situation could change overnight."

"Doctor Weir, with respect, we do not agree with you. Atlantis is now secure. I now see no reason not to proceed to Phase 2."

"Phase 2?"

"As I said, your job is done, Doctor Weir, and you have done it well. With the security situation now under control the IOA will be taking over the administration of Atlantis, directly."

Weir pushed her chair back, "Excuse me?"

"We will be appointing Mr. Woolsey to replace you. The directorship will rotate between our countries, with each nation in turn nominating its candidate for a five year term. We have selected Mr. Woolsey of America to be the first IOA director as a courtesy to that country since it has contributed the most funds and personnel to the mission to date. Also, we will be removing most of your SGC military personnel, replacing them with a much smaller UN contingent."

Wear closed her notebook and sighed, "Well, I have to say that I am not surprised. Now that Atlantis is declared 'safe' you simply intend to grab it for yourselves."

Xiaoyi's eyes narrowed, "Hardly. Up to now you have been operating completely independently, with no proper oversight, acting on your own initiative to do as you please. You have established diplomatic relations with other worlds in the Pegasus Galaxy without authorization, trading goods and technology, all without consulting us."

"Ma'am, if you might recall, we were completely cut off from Earth with no communication for almost year, and then after that we had only limited contact through the gate."

"But we have the CMM Bridge now, so that is no longer an issue."

"True, but.."

"No. Stronger oversight is required, and we will do so now."

"Ma'am, aren't you forgetting something? The city is not under IOA control. Atlantis is a sovereign nation-state that is ruled by the Ancients."

"Ah yes, your so-called 'nation-state'." Xiaoyi scoffed, "A state consisting of only one person? Ridiculous."

Her frown deepened, "Doctor Weir, we know that you had created that little fiction yourself. We also know that your Guardian is only a caretaker of that city, a mere security guard, who was simply waiting for a dead race that will never return. And we know that she is a living weapon, one that is programmed to obey higher authority, and that you have skillfully managed to convince her to obey you unquestioningly while propping her up as the so-called 'head of state'. You did that to create a political firewall to shield you from any external authority or oversight."

Weir pressed her lips together, "That is not true."

"Doctor Weir, you had already disclosed to us in your earlier reports that declaring Atlantis as an independent nation-state was your own idea."

"Yes, but the Guardian isn't..."

Xiaoyi raised her hand, "Please. We know. We know everything. We know despite your strong reticence in your reports about the Guardian. You have told us almost nothing about her, and you have ignored our repeated requests for more information. The SGC has also refused to reveal any information to us about her, the excuse being 'operational security'."

Xiaoyi unclasped her hands, spreading them apart on the podium. "And so here we are. You have this oh-so-convenient mystery person, one that we have never met, someone who never communicates with us, who has steadfastly refused all invitations to appear before this committee, a shadowy 'head of state' of a fictional nation, one that you created yourself. Yes, how convenient for you.

"Up until now we have held off on exposing your little charade because of the security situation on Atlantis and the lack of contact. However, that has changed. Now that Atlantis is secure it is time to reveal your 'Wizard of Oz' and roll back the curtain. You have carefully hidden her, her background, her origin, telling us nothing."

Xiaoyi leaned forward, "Because of that, we were forced to obtain our own information about her from certain alternative sources inside your Expedition."

"Alternative sources?"

"Certain sources with whom we had have contact within your Expedition."

"You mean your spies."

"Hardly that. We are your oversight superiors. One cannot spy on oneself. We simply resorted to using certain alternate means of gathering intelligence from the Expedition because of your deliberate and willful refusal to provide us with useful information regarding the Guardian."

"I see."

"And thanks to that intelligence information, we now know your little secret."

"My secret?"

"We know who the Guardian is. She is your puppet, a living weapon, programmed to obey commands from higher authority."

"Oh?"

"Yes. When Mr. Woolsey arrives on Atlantis, he will inform the Guardian that an authority higher than you will be taking control. Given her programming she should obey."

Weir clasped her own hands together. She said impassively, "I see. So you will just tell her that a higher authority is taking over. Is that right?"

"Given her programming she will obey. And if not, you are hereby directed and instructed to turn over any command codes, passwords, secret programming, overrides, and any other information necessary to transfer the control of the Ancient weapon system designated as the 'Guardian' from you to Mr. Woolsey."

Weir pinched her nose and sighed to herself.

She looked up at the ceiling and said in a loud voice, "Guardian, did you get all that? I hereby order you to obey Mr. Woolsey from now on."

Xiaoyi's eyes widened. There was a flash of light and the Guardian materialized. She pulled down the hood on her thermo-optic camouflage suit. She was sitting on Weir's tabletop, her dangling legs swinging back and forth. She seemed bored.

The Guardian slid herself off the table and looked back at Weir. "Nope, sorry. I decline."

Xiaoyi exclaimed to Weir, "This is a closed session! The Guardian was not invited!"

The Guardian interposed herself to block Xiaoyi's view of Weir. "Don't ignore me. You invited me several times. So now I'm here. Well?"

Xiaoyi glared, General Chekov chuckled to himself, Woolsey looked chagrined, Jean LaPierre was staring, and Russel Chapman blinked his eyes repeatedly.

The Guardian strode toward the podium, her eyes flashing with indignation. Most of the IOA members unconsciously pushed their chairs away from her as she marched determinedly towards them. Only Shen Xiaoyi did not.

The Guardian moved to stand in front of the British representative. "So, Mr. Chapman, you seem to think I am a fake? A mere charlatan? That I'm just doing magic tricks like, uh, 'David Copperfield'? Do I have the name right?"

Chapman, a meek looking man, nervously pulled at his tie and said nothing.

"Mr. Chapman, I can assure you that I am quite real. I am a true Ancient, the most powerful race this galaxy has ever seen. I am 10,000 years old, effectively immortal, with powers beyond your understanding."

Chapman fidgeted and remained silent.

She again listened to his mind. "Oh, I see. You'd like to see some proof. A demonstration perhaps?" She looked around the room. "Let's see.. Ah."

In a flash she disappeared, then she reappeared at the far end of the chamber near the large water fountain. She approached the fountain, raised her hands and threw them down. The whole fountain exploded violently, the blast muffled by a large shimmering green force field that surrounded the imposing structure. When the force field dropped nothing remained but piles of broken marble. Water bubbled up from a broken pipe.

In one leap she bounded across the chamber and landed deftly in front of Chapman. "Explosions are fun. Would you like to see something else?"

Chapman silently shook his head vigorously, his face white.

"Very well." The Guardian glided over to face LaPierre. His eyes remained fixed on her with quiet fascination. "Oh..." She gave him a coquettish smile, "Well. I'm flattered. However, don't you think you are exaggerating my bustline a bit? Also I am married. Oh? You are married as well? That's wonderful. Wait, you have a mistress? I see. Where? In Marseilles? How nice."

LaPierre's jaw had fallen open. He quickly caught himself and closed it, looking away in embarrassment.

The Guardian moved in front of Shen Xiaoyi. "I understand how you feel. You are upset because you believe that China was 'frozen out' of the SGC program. However, your attempt to grab control of my city by replacing Doctor Weir with Mr. Woolsey is foolish, transparent, ineffective, and completely unnecessary."

She sighed, "There is no need. I have already promised to share our technology with you equally. For example, you will find included in Doctor Weir's report a section that describes an advanced cloaking technology that my people possess that we use to hide our gate ships and our city from the Wraith. With this technology you will be able to hide your country's new battleship, the _Sun Tzu_ , from detection by any other race in the galaxy, even from the Asgard."

There was a pause. The Guardian's eyes narrowed. "Doctor Xiaoyi, please. I do admire your defiance and your courage in facing me, but it is misplaced. I am not your enemy, nor am I a threat to your country, nor are the Americans and the Russians. Your factionalism in siding with the French, your bribing of Mr. Chapman, all to create a three-vote bloc against the Americans and Russians in order to put your own parochial interests above the security of planet as a whole, is very disappointing to me."

Xiaoyi glared back but remained silent.

The Guardian moved on, gliding over to General Chekov. He was still grinning at her quietly. She bowed slightly, "General, it is so nice to finally meet you."

He smiled, " _A ty krasavitsa._ "*6

She returned the compliment, "Thank you. I have heard so many good things about you and your country. I want to personally thank you for your assistance to the SGC, sharing your gate, and working so closely with the Americans in the mutual defense of your planet."

He waved off her compliment deprecatingly, "We simply do our duty."

"I am glad that you survived the loss of the _Korolev_ in your battle against the Ori invasion."*7

"Mere luck, the fortunes of war. It is a pity that the sacrifices of my crew must remain secret. Please tell me, was Doctor Jackson successful in his mission?"

She smiled, "Yes. The Ori are no more."

"That is most gratifying to hear."

She turned and glowered at the IOA committee as a whole, "Daniel Jackson defeated the Ori and saved your planet, no thanks to you. If the IOA had its way, you would have executed Doctor Jackson and your planet would have fallen to the Ori. I am curious, what was the vote?" She listened, "I see, three to two, with the Chinese-French-British axis dominating."

She put her hands on her hips, "Now look, this parochial factionalism really needs to stop." She sighed, "But I can see that it will not. This is why I have changed my mind about how I am going to deal with you."

Mr. Woolsey asked, "Changed your mind? What do you mean?"

She turned to him, "I had originally intended to work with Earth only as a whole and not get involved in the petty affairs between your nations. This is because in the past we Ancients have only signed defense treaties with worlds with a unified government. However, I can see that Earth - with its seven billion people living in 190 independent countries - is hopeless that way. I now see Earth not as a 'world' in our usual sense, but rather more like a whole galaxy existing on a single globe. I see those 190 countries working together in various loose confederations much like planetary systems working together in an interstellar alliance. Therefore I have decided that I will deal with you that basis, as if each country is its own world. Your hopelessly complicated international political structure makes it impossible to do otherwise."

"I see. I suppose that makes sense. From my understanding Earth is rather unique in the galaxy that way."

"It is. Therefore, as I said, I will deal with the nations on Earth on a bilateral basis with their various allied groups. Regretfully, there is no other way. For example, if a group of countries want to ally together to work with me, such as the Americans and the Russians working together under the auspices of the SGC, I will gladly do so. However, if I perceive that a country or faction opposes me or tries to undermine me, I will deal with them on that basis as well.. " Her eyes shifted pointedly to Xiaoyi, ".. until their position changes." Xiaoyi continued to glare at her defiantly.

The Guardian turned to Mr. Woolsey and smiled, "Oh by the way, thank you for informing me about Phase 2."

Woolsey rolled his eyes. "I didn't. You know very well I that was merely thinking about Phase 2 during our meeting regarding Doctor Jackson. You just spotted it and snatched it out of my head."

"Yes. As I said, you've been very helpful. It is the reason I am here today."

Woolsey was sarcastic, "Wonderful." He realized something, "Wait, I thought you weren't allowed to monitor the thoughts of allies?"

"I am not. Sir, I never said you were an ally."

Woolsey folded his arms and sighed. He then turned his chair and addressed the IOA members, "See? I told you. She is not under anyone's control. You can see how willful she is. I warned you that the intel from Atlantis was unreliable."

The Guardian asked of all them, "Speaking of spies, I am curious, who exactly are your spies in Atlantis?" She listened to them again, "I see, it was Private Lindstrom and Doctor Bailey."

The Guardian had never talked directly to either one of them. Apparently Lindstrom was bribed, and Doctor Bailey hated Rodney. The latter's negative attitude towards Rodney was not particularly unusual for one of McKay's research underlings. What had sent him over the edge was his intense jealousy over McKay's marriage.

She started to lecture the IOA members, "You know, you really shouldn't base your intelligence on second-hand rumors like that. As faulty as that rumor was about my being subservient to Doctor Weir, the other popular rumor - that I'm terrorizing the senior staff into submission somehow - is even worse, so I suppose I should be thankful that you didn't believe that one because it is rather embarrassing."

She was beginning to feel mentally and emotionally fatigued in dealing with so many hostile minds all at once. She wanted to get away from them.

She sighed, "Look, here is the bottom line for you people: You are only guests in my city; I work with Weir only as an ally, nothing more and nothing less. She does not control me, and I do not control her. Furthermore, given what I have seen here today, she is the only person that I will accept to serve as the representative of your people in my city. If you try to remove her I will kick you all out." Quiet murmurs could be heard from from the long podium. She added, "Now, if for some reason Doctor Weir is incapacitated or otherwise is unable to fulfill her duties as the leader of the Atlantis Expedition, I will give you a list of acceptable replacement candidates from your world that you can choose from."

Her secret list had very few names on it. Colonel Samantha Carter was at the top.

"I will not accept anyone else. Otherwise I shall terminate our relationship and you can all go home. Is that clear?"

There was silence in room.

Doctor Weir finally stood up and said quietly, "Thank you, Guardian."

The Guardian withdrew, again sitting on the tabletop. She sat up straight without slouching on it. She didn't want them to notice her growing fatigue from being bombarded by so many belligerent thoughts.

While sitting she blinked her eyes as if listening to something, then she turned and gave Weir the barest nod.

Weir walked toward the podium, sounding conciliatory, "I agree with Doctor Xiaoyi. There needs to be better communication between the Expedition and the IOA. Apparently there have been some misunderstandings."

Xiaoyi said, "Indeed."

Weird continued to walk forward, pleasantly folding her hands down in front of herself in her usual diplomatic way, "I think it would be best if we could try to avoid such misunderstandings in the future, don't you agree?" She continued her approach, "Therefore in the interest of improving inter-galactic relations and the mutual trust between our two peoples, I would like to respectfully suggest to the Guardian and to the IOA that Mr. Woolsey be invited to come to Atlantis as the IOA's official observer."

The Guardian appeared to consider Weir's request. She nodded, "Very well, I will agree to your proposal. But only as an observer, nothing more. He will have no authority in my city."

Weir said cheerfully, "Of course." She turned back to the podium. "What say the IOA?"

Xiaoyi glanced at Woolsey, who nervously adjusted his tie.

The Chinese representative made a thin lipped smile, "I think that is an excellent suggestion."

* * *

The Guardian was seated in a private waiting area at the Geneva airport. She had changed back into wearing her sundress. Her white duffel bag was laying at her feet. Elizabeth Weir was seated in the chair next to hers, busy reading a report on her data tablet. Through the large windows behind them a chartered SwissAir Boeing 737 jet could be seen slowly approaching the gate.

The Guardian was slumped down in her chair, exhausted.

{ I still can't believe I did that. }

Weir lowered her tablet and reassuringly patted the Guardian's hand. { Sara, you were wonderful. You followed the script perfectly. }

{ Ugh. I need another vacation. }

{ And you did it all yourself. I'm so proud of you. }

{ So what do you think of my diplomatic skills? }

{ You were awful. But when you hold all the trump cards you don't need them. }

The Guardian groused, { Feh, some trump cards. How did you know they wouldn't just call my bluff? }

{ Simple. They need you more than you need them. }

{ I suppose. But did you really need to maneuver them into sending Woolsey? That wasn't in the script. }

{ Sara, it was necessary. Otherwise the IOA would just keep recruiting spies. This way their spy is out in the open. }

{ I see. And that way you can feed him whatever 'information' you want. }

{ Exactly. }

{ Fine. Play whatever games you like with him, just keep me out of it. }

{ Don't worry, I'll handle him. }

The Guardian crossed her arms. { I'm sure you will. }

Then she groused, { Doctor Weir, you are a very devious person. }

{ I prefer to call it diplomacy, but thank you. }

The Guardian sensed someone approaching.

{ Oh bother. He's coming over. }

Mr. Woolsey walked up with a roller bag. "Well, here we are."

Weir smiled, "Glad you could join us. Have a seat."

He sat opposite the two women. "I am supposed to go with you on your return trip to Atlantis."

"How nice."

"For the record I voted against Phase 2."

"Yes, we know."

Woolsey glanced over nervously at the Guardian, who was still slumped in her seat and pouting, looking away from him.

He tried to sound conciliatory to the last living Ancient. "Look, I know that we don't get along, but I still want to apologize to you for Xiaoyi's attempted power grab.."

The Guardian finally turned and interrupted him, "No need. You are just an observer. I am simply going to ignore you."

Woolsey sat back in his chair and sighed to himself, "Yeah, this is going to be a great assignment."

* * *

The Guardian and Elizabeth Weir were seated in the first class compartment of the SwissAir Boeing 737 awaiting takeoff. The plane was otherwise empty except for the flight crew and Mr. Woolsey.

Weir was seated at the window next to the Guardian. Mr. Woolsey took the seat across the aisle from the Lantean. He looked nervous. After a few futile attempts at making small talk with the Guardian he eventually gave up and tried to read something from his briefing folder.

The Guardian pulled out her American passport and looked it. She said quietly, "Doctor Weir, this is a convincing fake ID."

"Oh, it's real."

"What? But I'm not.."

".. an American citizen? Actually you are. General O'Neill saw to that. You have a Social Security Number and everything."

"Hmm." She inspected the passport. "Sara B McKay. What is the B for?

"You needed a middle name. I asked Rodney and he said your middle name should be the letter B, just the letter. He said that it doesn't stand for anything, like the letter S in President Harry S Truman's name."

"I see." Actually the B did mean something. It was the first letter of her hidden name - or at least the part of her long name that Rodney could remember - 'Bassara'.

The flight attendant walked up and smiled at the trio, "Welcome to SwissAir. Is there anything I can get you? A cocktail perhaps?"

Weir replied, "No thank you."

Woolsey felt he needed a drink and said so.

The flight attendant turned to the Guardian, "And you, mademoiselle?"

"Nothing for me." Then she added, "Well, except one thing.."

The attendant looked at her expectantly, "Yes?"

The Guardian sat up and addressed her directly, "After you serve Mr. Woolsey his alcoholic beverage please leave this chamber and do not return for the remainder of the flight."

The attendant was surprised, "Excuse me?"

"You have been bribed by an agent for Swiss Intelligence. He told you to report back to him whatever we discuss in here."

"Non!"

"Oui. You are just a paid spy."

The attendant lapsed into French, "Non! Non! Je suis très vexée que tu puisses penser que.."

At that moment the cockpit door opened and a man wearing a SwissAir pilot uniform amiably walked down the aisle towards them, intending to greet his passengers on their flight.

The co-pilot heard the attendant still protesting her innocence in French. He ordered her to stop and spoke kindly to the passengers, "Madames and monsieur, please, I apologize for any discommode."

The co-pilot then addressed the flight attendant in French. She again protested her innocence. He replied sternly, and she turned and left in the compartment in a huff.

The co-pilot switched back to English, "Again, I must apologize. This is all very embarrassing."

Weir said to him pleasantly, "Oh, no need to apologize. It's quite all right, I'm sure you didn't know."

The Guardian was grumpy, "Oh he knows all right."

The co-pilot was taken aback. "What? I can assure you.."

The Guardian flashed her intense blue eyes at him. "Don't insult me. Leave."

The co-pilot stared at her for a moment in silence, then he turned and left.

The Guardian yelled to his retreating back, "And when you return to the cockpit you can turn off that recording device!" She reclined her seat all the way back and closed her eyes tightly.

After a moment Woolsey leaned over and asked Weir quietly, "Is she always like this?"

Weir smiled back, "Oh no."

He was relieved.

"Actually, you caught her on a good day."

Woolsey reclined his own seat, looking up at the ceiling.

"Just wonderful."

* * *

The Boeing 737 was over the Atlantic. Woolsey had since fallen asleep. He was wearing an eyemask, his mouth open with a small bit of drool forming on it.

The Guardian's eyes were still closed. Eventually she fell asleep.

* * *

 _Why did you do that? Why did you interfere?_

 _I had no choice._

 _What you did is forbidden._

 _Sir, there were no other options.  
_

 _There are always options you fool! You didn't give her a chance to decide!_

 _But the Wraith would have.._

 _Your act took away her free will. Nothing is more precious than that!_

 _I am sorry. What do we do?_

 _Well, it is too late to undo your foolish mistake now._

 _I'm so sorry._

 _We'll discuss your punishment later. For now, remove all her memories of what happened._

 _Sir, we can try but her mind is specifically designed to resist such mental tampering._

 _I know that. Do whatever it takes - do a long term erasure if necessary. Go back one hundred years if you have to._

 _Even if we did all that it still might not be possible to remove her memories, at least not completely._

 _Do it anyway, then put her into her stasis chamber and rewind the chronometer. When she awakens she will discount any residual memories as just a dream._

 _Yes, sir._

 _After that report back to me so I can find a suitable punishment for you._

* * *

The Guardian woke up in her airline seat. She turned and saw that Weir was reading her data tablet.

Weir lowered her tablet and gave the Guardian a gentle smile, "Good morning, Sara. My, you slept rather well."

The Guardian rubbed her face, "Where are we now?"

"We'll be landing at Colorado Springs inside of an hour."

The Guardian pulled her seat to its upright position. She noticed that Woolsey was also awake. The IOA representative made eye contact and gave her a small sheepish smile. In response she glared back and turned away.

Weir made a gesture to the Guardian that was unseen by Woolsey. In response the Guardian returned the barest nod. They switched to using the communication conduit.

The Guardian knew that the Director had always felt uncomfortable talking to her in this fashion, but Weir didn't seem to mind it now.

{ Sara, how are you doing? Are you looking forward to going home? }

{ Yes, Doctor. I am very much looking forward to it. I feel like I am surrounded by enemies here. }

{ You basically are. I feel it too. }

{ I am glad we're going home. }

{ Yes.. }

Woolsey watched the conversation play out on their faces. He sighed and put back on his eyemask.

Weir added absently, { Atlantis is home. }

{ Yes, I have sensed that several members of the expedition also feel that way. }

{ You have? Even with the CMM Bridge in place? }

{ Yes, Doctor. The fact that anyone can now return to Earth whenever they wish seems to have cemented the decision of many of them to stay, indefinitely. }

{ I see. }

{ Particularly the ones who have been pairing off. }

Weir caught the subtle implication. She had never discussed her affair with anyone, at least not out loud. She was more than a little embarrassed, { Yes, that's been happening a lot lately. }

{ I am no expert on the subject. I suppose it is natural behavior among humans? }

Weir sighed, { I've been getting some pressure from the staff about relaxing the anti-fraternization rules. } She thought a moment and added, { Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. I think we should still prohibit it between direct reports but otherwise I think we can allow it. Sheppard agrees with me, although he still wants to also avoid it between the members of the same AR recon squad. We could move personnel around for that. What do you think? }

{ Doctor, I am hardly unbiased on the subject. }

{ Please, call me Elizabeth. }

{ I find calling you that.. difficult, Doctor. }

Weir was surprised, { Why? }

She paused.

{ Do you really want to know? }

Weir became concerned, { Sara, what is it? Aren't we friends? I thought.. }

{ Yes, we are friends, ma'am. }

{ Look, you don't need to call me "ma'am". }

Weir now realized that the Guardian had never addressed her by her first name. Not once in over two years. Only as 'Doctor' or 'Doctor Weir'.

{ Sara, why are you always so formal with me? }

The Guardian again hesitated.

{ Are you sure you want to know? }

{ Yes, tell me. }

It sounded like an order. The Guardian looked up in resignation and sighed to herself.

 _So be it._

{ Fine. First, please understand that I do indeed think of you as my friend. So please don't be upset at my response. }

{ Upset? Whatever for? }

{ Because I know. }

{ Know what? }

The Guardian looked down. { Shen Xiaoyi was right. You've been manipulating me. }

{ Sara..? }

{ Everything she said was true: I am a living weapon, programmed to obey higher authority, and you have skillfully managed to convince me to obey you. And you have been doing it this entire time. }

{ What? No, I promise that I never.. }

The Guardian interrupted her, { Except for Beckett's anti-Wraith bioresearch I've obeyed your every request. And even then I eventually caved. You've quietly manipulated me so masterfully that I didn't even realize it was happening, and you've been doing it to me ever since I woke up. }

{ Sara, no! This is an alliance; we work together! Look, have I ever given you an order? Even once? }

{ You did it just now. I obeyed: I revealed that I knew. See? }

{ Huh? }

{ Let me explain. When I had first woke up I was disoriented, confused. I knew I needed allies, so I deferred to you naturally. You immediately swung into gear and focused your formidable diplomatic and leadership skills on me, always being very careful never to push me too far, just like how Lucius Lavin was always careful about not pushing me too far with Rodney. You gradually, carefully, tested your level of influence on me, slowly asking me for bigger and bigger favors, like when we started with the Good Cop / Bad Cop with the Vren, and then I started doing whole scripts like that for you. I knew that I owed a big debt to you and the SGC for saving my city from the Wraith, which you used to gain even more leverage over me. You knew that I had rotten diplomatic skills, so you offered to write scripts for me when dealing with foreign officials and I followed them to the letter. Then you put a bunch of words in my mouth to confront the IOA. And I did it all. You even convinced me to violate my oath regarding the public disclosure of mental secrets just so you could embarrass all those IOA officials, convincing me that it was needed for city security. And I did it! }

Weir's face was tragic, { Sara, please.. I only did what.. }

The Guardian grabbed Weir's hand. { Elizabeth. It's okay. }

Weir wiped a tear from her face, { What? You must hate me. }

{ No, I don't hate you. I still think of you as my friend. Now that I've confessed this to you I feel it even more. }

{ I don't understand.. }

{ Elizabeth, if our positions were reversed, if I had your skills, I would have done exactly the same thing you did. }

{ R-Really? }

{ Yes. You did what you had to do to save the city, to save your expedition. To save us from the clutches of the IOA. Elizabeth, I have no ill-will against you about what you did, how you leveraged the fact that my brain is wired with a predisposition to obey whoever I perceive to be a higher authority, and how you realized that I had such programming and exploited it. }

{ I am so sorry... }

{ No need to apologize. I understand. You did what you had to do. For the city and for the Expedition. }

{ I promise I won't.. use you.. like that ever again. }

{ Good. From now on you'll ask me first, right? As an ally? }

{ Of course. }

{ Look, you need me. And I need you. I need the Expedition. But know this: I am aware of my predisposition to obey now. It is just like my built-in urge to kill a Wraith on sight. I can suppress it, just like my desire to kill a Wraith. }

{ All right. }

{ Now that I know that I have that.. vulnerability.. you can no longer control me. I am free. }

{ I understand. Lantean society values free will highly, yes? }

{ Yes, they do. }

{ Then I'll make sure you keep it. As much as I can. I'm still sorry. }

The Guardian smiled, { Don't worry. It's over now. We're still allies, still friends. }

{ Thank you so much, Sara. I'll tell Sheppard too. I'll make sure he never tries to push you. }

The Guardian hadn't considered that. { Hmm. It's never been a problem with him. }

Did she ever view Sheppard as her superior, even unconsciously? No, she didn't think so. Even if she did, Sheppard had never tried to manipulate her or push her into doing something she did not want to do. Given their eight years living together on P49-M87 she doubted he ever would.*8

{ What about McKay? Does he exert any undue influence over you? }

The Guardian snorted, { Rodney? Hah! }

She knew that McKay didn't hold the slightest bit of control over her. Their relationship was between equals, partners.

Weir sighed, { I still feel awful about this. }

{ Talk it out tonight with John. It will help. }

{ You think? }

{ Yeah. I have guilty secrets too. He knows. }

{ Guilty secrets? What do you mean? }

The Guardian looked down, { With John. }

Weir's eyes widened, { Oh my god.. }

The Guardian's head snapped up, { No, no, not like that! Nothing happened! Honest! }

{ Then what..? }

{ Nothing, just temptation. Mine more than him I think. Look, I just want to make sure there are no more secrets between you and me. John can explain it better. Just tell him tonight that he has blanket permission from me to talk about it with you. }

Weir crossed her arms, { Oh I will. }

 _Sorry, John. I hope I didn't put you in trouble.  
_

Still, the Guardian was happy that she had successfully distracted Elizabeth from her guilt. She was inwardly pleased that her social skills had increased to the point that she could do that to the master manipulator.

Weir grasped the Guardian's hand tighter. { Sara, let's go home. }

The Guardian smiled back and reclined her seat again, still holding hands.

Woolsey was now snoring again, his eyemask still on.

The Guardian was thoughtful, { My heart tells me that some day the city will be gone.. }

That surprised Weir. She turned her head, { Really? You think so? }

{ Just a feeling I have. I hope I am wrong. }

The Guardian was earnest, { With Rodney it doesn't really matter to me anymore. In the end my home is wherever he is. }

Weir made a small smile, { You really do love him. }

{ Oh I do, I love him so much. }

{ I'm glad. }

{ And we've made plans for our future. If we lose Atlantis and we come to Earth. }

{ You have? Really? }

The Guardian sat up eagerly, { Oh yes. I've been using Google Earth to search a downloaded database of Las Vegas to look at available homes. I picked out several nice ones with two bedrooms, nearby parks, and ... }

{ Two bedrooms? }

{ Uh, yes. }

{ Really? For a family? }

The Guardian realized that she had blundered. { Uh.. well yes.. eventually. Not now. Later. For the future. Hypothetical. } Her face reddened and she stopped.

Weir noticed her obvious nervousness. { I see. So you can have children then? I didn't know that. }

The Guardian's embarrassment grew. She simply nodded.

{ You know that for certain? Even with your biological modifications? I didn't think your kind could, uh, reproduce.. }

{ Uh.. yes.. we can. }

Weir leaned toward her, { If you need protection I can arrange it. Don't worry, it can be discreet. In fact, Doctor Beckett has been handing them out quite a bit lately. }

{ Oh... }

{ And now that we have this new understanding, this new friendship between us - with no secrets I mean - I should mention to you that I do receive a monthly list of who has been receiving family planning supplies. McKay is not on it. So I was wondering if perhaps...? }

The Guardian sat up straight. She folded her arms in front of herself and turned to Weir. { Oh, no thank you. No need for those. I can do it myself. Protect myself, I mean. If I want to. I mean I do! I do want to! I do! I can! }

Weir saw her dissembling about her condition. It was written as plain as day across her face: Her obvious nervousness, her arms unconsciously protecting her midsection..

The Guardian sensed it. Weir knew.

{ Sara.. }

 _No! No! No!_

{ .. how far along are you? }

* * *

 **A/N:**

* See episode S02E13, "Critical Mass"

** David is also the name of actor David Hewlett who plays Rodney McKay.

*** Ursa=bear, catulo=cub, choris=joyful, laeta=dancing

*4 The Big Dipper is a component of the constellation called Ursa Major ('Great Bear') in the northern sky.

*5 See the official novel _Stargate Atlantis: Secrets_ (2012), the fifth novel in the _Stargate Atlantis: Legacy_ series.

*6 Translation: "And you, my beautiful lady."

*7 See SG-1 Season 9 Episode 20, "Camelot"

*8 The incident with the picnic basket was the only exception (cf Chapter 3).


End file.
